Power Games
by Immatrael
Summary: There's no such thing as happily ever after. Life goes on - even dearly bought. All Precia's plans may come to nought as shadowy actors take to the stage. But nothing unmasks a man like his use of power.
1. Prologue

She awoke, gasping.

How long had she been asleep? It felt like forever. The depths of slumber had crept up on her again, tangling her in warm, sinuous fingers and refusing to relinquish their hold on her exhausted body, as they had been doing with increasing frequency in recent memory. She glanced out of the window – the skies were dark. They had been light when she had last looked. Hours, then, at the very least. This hadn't just been a short doze; it had been one of her long sleeps.

But now she was awake again, and raw, visceral energy surged through her with almost painful strength. Normally, after a short nap, she struggled to climb out of the soporific pit and into full wakefulness. Here, though, she was slammed out of it in a way that hadn't happened in a long, long time.

She ached all over. Her mouth felt as dry as a desert; her arms felt like something was jabbing pins and needles into them; her legs were useless lumps of meat. That was familiar. Yes, she thought in bemusement, that was familiar. When she woke up suddenly, it always hurt. Was it the awakening that hurt, or the pain that made her awaken? That she was less sure of.

The room was dark. Shadows shifted in the corners, and a strange glow came from somewhere off to her right. She lay on her back, head to one side, momentarily unable to recall exactly where she was. The ceiling was bare, offering no clues, and there was a strange glow from some source that she couldn't pick out that was dimly illuminating the room, deepening the shadows and shifting oddly where it played off the empty shelves stacked against the wall at the far end of the room.

Despite the torrent of energy that boiled in her chest and flooded down her veins, making her stomach churn and something in the back of her mind slot together in a familiar-yet-alien way, her body was still weak. Crying out softly, she struggled to lift herself up on her elbows and lever herself into a sitting position. When that failed, she simply reached upwards and backwards blindly for a light, any light at all, to see where she was.

A smooth hand closed over hers and gently but firmly pressed it back to her chest. Its owner was still outside her field of vision, and made no noise as they slid an arm under her and helped her up into a sitting position. She coughed harshly, still disoriented from the energy surge and the nausea, and the hands held her chin up and steadied her as the coughing fit wracked her slight body. The blinking glow of tear-blurred lights from a display beside her bed played starkly off her convulsing frame without regard for her misery.

Once the attack had passed, she lifted a limp hand to rub at sleep-encrusted eyes and looked groggily at her helper. No, her _helpers_.

Four figures knelt before her in front of another tightly packed bookcase, their heads bowed. They wore strange clothing, simple and uniform, and they glowed with the same unearthly light that illuminated the room. She looked at their apparent leader, the woman who had helped her, and rasped something unintelligible.

She looked up, apparently deciphering the attempt at speech, or at least garnering the general meaning. "Worry not, my liege," she said in a cold, clinical voice. The words were an attempt at soothing, but the manner in which they were delivered sounded more like she was reading them off a card. "We are your servants, here to protect you. We are your will made manifest."

The girl blinked, still groggy and confused. She… remembered something about this, didn't she? Some sort of… dream she'd had. Or something. It was hard to think. She was still so very tired. Numbly, she stared at the strange glowing woman as she stood.

"Worry not," the woman repeated. "All will be well, now that we are here. Sleep once more. We will wake you soon."

Sleep. That sounded good. She didn't want to sleep forever. But a little nap, for just a bit longer… yes, that sounded good.

"We will guard you as you rest," intoned one of the other figures, as their leader laid a cold hand on the girl's forehead. "Sleep, and regain your strength."

She slept.

* * *

…


	2. Chapter 1

The sun of the world called Schzenais was red. Nanoha still wasn't used to it. It was huge, too, though nowhere near as hot as the one she'd grown up with. It made for a cold world under a dark blue sky, where some of the brighter stars were visible even during the daytime. The light was reddish, and cast long, deep shadows across the snow that piled up against buildings in knee-deep droves wherever the heat of the sunlamps didn't melt it.

On one particularly chilly afternoon, it also filtered past the falling snow and in through the windows of a well-insulated building on the outskirts of one of the major sub-arctic cities, where a lesson was underway. Nanoha Takamachi, nine-year old mage and Earth-born native, tore her gaze from the fast-falling snowflakes and dragged her attention back to the classroom, and by extension the teacher at the front of it. The woman was tall and statuesque, and her hair reminded Nanoha of what Yuuno's… no. Shaking her head slightly, she put that thought firmly to one side and tried to refocus on the history lesson.

"This meant that the Praovéan Dynasties were one of the last Dawn State superpowers to develop," the teacher was saying. "And one more prone to in-fighting than the others. Does anyone know what the best example of that is?"

Hands rose. Nanoha's was not among them. Dimensional space history was, for obvious reasons, a subject she knew nothing about. It was also confusing, because there was quite a lot more of it.

The teacher scanned the raised hands and raised here eyebrows at the owner of one of them. "Miss Daytona," she said, and it was a second or so before Nanoha remembered that was the surname Fate and her family were using. She looked around in surprise. Fate had grown up on the Garden, and her education had more been in magic and combat than in history. She was usually no better in this class than Nanoha herself was.

Fate herself seemed unaffected by her friend's stare. "The Benlil Crusades," she offered softly. "When… I think one of the ancestor-hubs attacked the others near to it?"

The teacher nodded approvingly. "Very well done, Miss Daytona. Yes, the Benlil Crusades happened because of in-fighting between the different Dynastic families. At that point, there were eight major families and nine more minor ones. Now, we're going to look at the major ones and how they differed from each other…"

_'How did you know that?' _asked Nanoha, tuning out of the lesson for a moment to speak silently to Fate. She got a mild look of disapproval in return – they weren't supposed to talk during lessons, even by telepathy. But Fate relented after only a moment, and replied in kind.

_'The Praovéan Dynasties were built on Lost Logia they called ancestor-thrones,' _she explained. _'Life support mechanisms – that's what the hubs were, dozens of ancient Dynasts all networked together. They didn't die as long as they were connected to their thrones… it was one of the things Mother investigated for Alicia.'_

"Ahem. Miss Ceres?" The teacher's eyes were apparently sharp enough to spot those not paying attention, and the girl was half-sure there was something which alerted her to the use of telepathy in-class. This time, luckily, Nanoha did remember that 'Nene Ceres' was her. She hadn't been forgetting as often recently, but she had needed reminders from Raising Heart whenever her name was called for the first month or so.

"If you would care to repeat what I just said?" It was a question the woman was fond of asking students she suspected weren't listening, which Nanoha hadn't been. Luckily, Raising Heart had been. Having not learnt the language yet, Nanoha still needed her Device to translate, and a mental nudge rewound the whisper prompt she had been using in the hopes that hearing both the language and the translation would help her learn faster.

"Uh… the Rochestein House was the second-oldest, and didn't change as much as the others, and they had a lot of territory on Type-2 worlds," she answered, and sweated for a few seconds as the teacher narrowed her eyes at her. The woman's suspicions aside, though, the answer had been correct. With a curt nod, she turned back to the board and continued the lesson, outlining the major Houses and the different cultural practices they had, along with the reasons they came into conflict with each other and the other groups of the time.

History was the last lesson of the day, and so once it was finally over, Fate and Nanoha were free for the rest of the afternoon, albeit with a homework assignment to do by the end of the week. It was already getting dark outside, despite it only being early afternoon. The day on Schzenais was rather shorter than the calendar day – and for that matter the human body clock day – so sunlamps were used to provide light when the sun wasn't in the sky.

The school day drifted a little throughout the year to try and line up with the hours of actual daylight as much as was reasonably possible. At the moment, that meant it started rather early in the morning, which gave them most of the afternoon free after picking up Alicia, Vesta and Arf from their classes. They angled towards the junior portion of the school grounds, mutually adjusting their Jackets to fend off the vicious bite of the cold.

"You really shouldn't do that," Fate accused, once they had got a fair distance away from the crowd of escaping students. "You were running one of your mental simulations during mathematics, too. I could tell."

Nanoha shrugged. "Maths is easy," she defended herself. "And you're still ahead of me in magic, I need all the practice I can get. And history is just confusing." She pouted. "The language doesn't help, either. I thought I would be doing better than this."

Fate gave her a sympathetic look. They still couldn't communicate very well without their Devices translating for them. Nanoha could just about manage slow, simple conversation, but anything in-depth or at normal speed gave her trouble, and complex topics were still impossible.

The walk was a fairly short one, and they arrived to find the younger years still spilling out of the low, insulated building. This far north, all the buildings hunkered close to the ground – aesthetics in architecture came second to keeping the cold out and weathering the blizzards. By the time they got there, the trio they had come to pick up was already waiting for them outside.

"Farina!" called Alicia excitedly, jumping up and down and waving. "Nene! It's home time, home time! Guess what we did today!" She ran over, trailed by Vesta and Arf, both of whom were grinning. Their child-forms were tweaked to look the same age as Alicia herself, with their familiar traits concealed. It was good for them, Nanoha thought. They were both technically younger than Alicia herself, and schooling with children closer to their maturity level, without the pressures of combat and terror, was doing them some real good.

The fact that it put two A-rank combat familiars in the same room as Alicia on bodyguard detail didn't hurt, either. Nanoha had a feeling that might have been part of why Precia had agreed so readily to the suggestion.

Fate returned Alicia's hug with a smile, and offered her left hand to Arf as Alicia claimed her right. Vesta, by contrast, made a beeline straight for Nanoha, hopping up and down in a happy little dance. "Today was _fun_," she crowed gleefully, as she happily embraced her 'sister'. "We got to…"

"Hey!" warned Alicia. "It's my story, don't steal it!" She turned back to Fate eagerly. "Guess what we did!" she demanded, as they set off back to the home Precia had rented. "I bet you can't!"

Laughing, Fate swung their linked hands back and forth as Alicia skipped to keep up with her longer strides. "Did you do really well on some classwork?" she asked, and was rewarded with a headshake that sent blonde tresses falling into Alicia's face as the younger girl's eyes gleamed mischievously. Nanoha noticed Arf and Vesta both bubbling with suppressed anticipation as they shook their heads in unison. So, it had been something they had all done.

"Did you all do really well in a game?" she ventured. Another giggle of mirth, and another set of headshakes were her reply.

"One more guess!" chimed Arf, drawing further giggles from the trio. Fate shook her head fondly.

"I give up," she conceded. "What did the three of you do?" They were approaching the edge of the school grounds, nearing the tram stop that lay across the street. The snow was starting to die away, too, which was a hopeful sign. Alicia and the familiars might be equally happy out of school as in it, but Fate didn't like having to miss school when the snow piled too high, even if it did mean she got to spend more time with her family. Though fortunately that was rare; they knew how to deal with heavy snow here.

"Well, basically," Alicia began, "we were going to lunch, and looked at the menu, and it said that there was Dokei Stew for pudding!" Nanoha nodded. The sticky-sweet pudding reminded her a bit of toffee cakes, though it had a few spices in it that she didn't recognise. Alicia loved the stuff, it wasn't surprising that she'd be pleased about having it.

The little girl spun around dramatically. "But then," she continued, throwing her hands out dramatically, "I found out something _horrible! _That our year was in last for lunch! So it would all be gone by the time we got there!"

Nanoha and Fate traded glances. This sounded… ominous. Beside them, Vesta eagerly jumped up onto a low fence and began to pace along it with her arms outstretched – purely for dramatic effect, as her balance was perfect. Arf had found a stick, and was running it along the top bar of Vesta's footing, knocking the snow off just in front of where she was stepping. They looked around eagerly as Alicia went on with her narration, walking backwards to better view her audience.

"And it would be really bad if we didn't get pudding! So that's when I went to get Ami and Vittoria!" Her lips didn't quite match the names she spoke, as her civ-Device caught and changed her words to the aliases that Arf and Vesta were using. It had been agreed that it was a good idea to install that particular function on all three Devices, just in case of slip-ups.

"So Vittoria turned us all _invisible_, and we snuck into the kitchens! And Ami sniffed out where the Dokei Stew was, and we had some!" Alicia beamed proudly. "It was _delicious_."

Alicia chattered on in this vein, with Arf and Vesta jumping in to add detail as she described the close call they'd had when one of the kitchen staff had closed door and trapped them in one of the storerooms for an agonising seventy bajillion hours ("Two minutes," Arf interjected dryly) and how they had managed to get a brief look into the office of the head of catering on the way out ("and she had _shiny ribbon_, look!" said Vesta proudly, displaying her prize). Nanoha and Fate listened, neither willing to show their mild disapproval to the delighted girl – or for that matter able to get a word in edgeways.

_'Is it likely they'll get caught?' _asked Nanoha privately, voicing her own major concern. Fate sent a light wave of disapproval back, and shrugged.

_'I'm more concerned that they did it at all,' _she replied. _'But I don't think so, no. Vesta has come a long way with her illusions. We should probably make sure they don't do it again, though.'_

_'How?'_

Rather than explaining, Fate opted to demonstrate. "So," she spoke up, interrupting Alicia's recounting of how the cooking equipment in the catering department was all super-sized and huge, "are you going to tell Mother all of this?"

Alicia froze, as did her partners in crime. "Uh…" she said, suddenly unsure. "Actually, could we… not?"

Fate held her gaze in ominous silence for a long moment, until the little girl began to squirm nervously. Then, as they stopped to wait at the station, she bent down slightly to look Alicia in the eye. "Okay," she agreed, "but only as long as you _promise _not to do anything like this again, okay? If you want a meal at school that they run out of, we'll make you it at home that night. But sneaking around the kitchens will get you caught and in trouble."

Alicia looked very much like she wanted to protest this point, and Vesta made a muffled indignant sound from somewhere near Nanoha, but neither objected verbally. "... kay," she mumbled sullenly, before brightening as the tram pulled in. "Oh! Can I watch you and Nene practicing today?"

Fate hesitated, and Arf stepped in, a business-like air overtaking her childish happiness at the events of the day. "Sorry Lezi," she apologised. "We're doing paired combat today; so you won't even be able to see most of it. And it's still too dangerous with all the shooting we throw around." She paused. "Well, all the shooting Nene throws around, anyway." She grinned at Nanoha cheekily before turning back to Alicia. "Ask Lilian again – you can ask what puddings she can make at the same time. She said she and Pera would think about it, right?"

"Fine…" pouted Alicia. "But you have to give me flying rides to make up for it! And Vittoria has to give me invisible ones, too!"

Smiles came from both familiars, along with a soft giggle from Nanoha. Alicia's pout was probably meant to be sulky or grudging, but the result merely looked adorable on her. Behind her shirt, it was just barely possible to make out a tinge of violet light as the mechanism that kept her alive flared up slightly in response to her emotions, before the illusion over it adjusted to compensate.

"I think we can handle that," agreed Arf, concealing a smirk. "Now, tickets out and let's get home."

* * *

…

* * *

Half an hour later, the quartet had dropped Alicia off at home, and were several kilometres outside city limits, flying low and fast. This far from populated areas, as long as they kept their magic use low, they could practice with impunity and not have to worry about being detected. Getting there wasn't hard for them, and they didn't have to worry much about being followed. One of the first things Linith had done upon their arrival had been to hack the perimeter systems around the city to ignore them and to find safe areas away from flight paths, and she had insisted that the girls only wear whites, greys and blues while out practicing. Fate had grumbled, but eventually capitulated and made a temporary shift to her Barrier Jacket's colour, lightening the black to a slate grey.

This time, they had chosen a sparsely wooded ravine that they had used before. A river ran down it on the cityward side, iced over near the banks but still flowing in the middle, and the snow that blanketed it looked fresh and pristine, untouched by the tread of any humans. From her perch on Nanoha's shoulder, Vesta eyed it warily and with good reason. She had learned from harsh experience that the snowfall carpet during winter in this city was often thicker than she was tall. Jumping down would not only make her vanish beneath the surface, it would also make her cold, wet and miserable.

That had not been a pleasant process of discovery.

_'Okay,' _said Arf, who had grown tired of romping through the snow after only two or three minutes of playful barking and running around like a maniac. She now sat at Fate's feet, her tail wagging contentedly as lumps of slowly-melting snow slid off her thick orange coat. _'We're practicing synchronised fighting this time. Tag-combat sound good?' _She waited for the affirming nods, and pawed at Fate's ankle. _'Okay then! Pick me up and let's get started!'_

Fate narrowed her eyes at her familiar. "I am not picking you up while you are freezing cold and wet again," she stated flatly. "Come here and hold still."

She didn't give Arf a chance to protest the order, leaning down quickly to grab her by the scruff of the neck with one hand while the other splayed out in front of her, a casting circle forming at her fingertips. It moved forwards, passing over Arf and evaporating the water from her fur. She whined quietly at the tickling sensation, and shook herself as soon as it was over.

"If you didn't get wet, I wouldn't have to do that," Fate told her, entirely unsympathetic. "Now come on, up you get." She glanced at Nanoha as she knelt down to gather Arf up into her arms and stow her in the small rucksack she was wearing. Arf fit quite comfortably into the little bag, which was sized just right for her puppy form and contained within the fields of Fate's Barrier Jacket. Like Vesta's position in Nanoha's hood, the Jacket would keep her safely held there, able to poke her head out and see behind or in front of her mistress.

The kitten had already trotted around Nanoha's shoulder and curled up in her favoured place. Well, one of them. A little grey head with tufted ears poked out of the hood and nodded happily. _'We're good to go!' _she announced.

_'Right. How many shots shall we go to, then?' _asked Arf.

"Can it be just one today?" Nanoha smiled apologetically. "It's been a fortnight again, and I set up a scrying spell yesterday evening… I want to get home early to check up on my family. You know?"

"Of course," Fate agreed smoothly. "One shot it is then. Ready?"

"Ready," Nanoha nodded.

_'Ready!' _chorused the familiars from their respective nests. Fate scooped up a handful of snow and compacted it down into a snowball.

"When it hits the ground, then," she said, and tossed it high into the air. It sailed high into the air, shedding flakes as it turned over once and began to fall again. A soft puff of snow went up from where it landed.

And before it even began to settle, both girls were gone.

Tag combat was a game and form of practice they had devised to hone their skills while at the same time being relatively low-key. They obviously couldn't go all-out so close to people who would notice, so they needed a more subtle way to spar with one another. It had been Arf who had come up with the idea of limiting themselves to low-level shooting spells, and marking the winner as whoever managed to land the set number of attacks first.

Nanoha went high. It wasn't even a question, she knew from six months of experience that Fate would thrash her in dense or hemmed-in terrain. She often thrashed her anyway. The way the rules were set up favoured Fate's high-speed evasion-focused style, and despite a learning curve that had worried Yuuno and that she'd heard Arf describe as 'freakish', Nanoha was well aware that her friend still outclassed her in straight combat. She could beat the other girl perhaps one bout every six or seven, and those wins were generally down to luck, Fate having a bad day, or pulling out a new trick that the blonde hadn't seen before. None of the three tended to last long.

Reaching what she felt was a safe height; Nanoha looked around, keying her visor to thermal vision. As expected, she couldn't see Fate – they'd both found ways of masking their heat signature without Vesta's illusions some time ago – but it was worth a try. Shrugging, she double-checked with Vesta that her cloak was running at full capacity. Not just light, but heat and a decent fraction of the sound she was making were muffled under the kitten's spell. Which was a good thing, because what she was about to do next would compromise that security.

Keeping her eyes and ears open and prompting Raising Heart to keep an eye out for movement in the open areas she could see, she began to circle. And as she did so, she released a Narrow Area Search spell towards one of the thicker groves of trees.

The first of many.

On the ground, concealed behind a mound that the generous might have described as a smallish hillock, Fate's eyes narrowed as she saw the pink motes begin to drift down from the sky. Pulling back behind cover, she considered her options.

A tap to one of the black earpieces she wore summoned her gold-tinted visor, sleeker and thinner as Nanoha's but identical in function. Another peek over the rise outlined the location of the search spells Nanoha was using, most of them in the wrong direction so far. With a Wide Area Search disallowed by the rules, Nanoha was making do with multiple smaller ones, systematically targeting every patch of cover that Fate could hide in. Their common centre gave Fate a rough idea of where she was, but she wasn't making it easy. She was almost certainly circling even as she cast, so any triangulation of her position from the spells would be approximate at best.

Snow crunched under Fate's hands as she pulled back behind the rise, unmelting under her touch. A bead of sweat trickled down her forehead, and she wiped it away, frowning. Configuring her Barrier Jacket to trap heat within the fields stopped her showing up on thermal scanners, but it was a double-edged sword. She was already starting to get uncomfortably warm, and sooner or later her Jacket would start leaking heat anyway. It was another time limit on how long she could stay hidden, and it was counting down.

She wracked her mind for a way to get to Nanoha. Briefly, she considered getting Arf to follow the girl's scent trail, but discarded the idea. Not only would the wind work against her, following the scent trail in circles would leave her totally exposed, and an easy target. No, she needed some way to pinpoint her opponent, and soon. Before any of those search spells found her.

_'Any ideas yet?' _asked Arf, and received a minute head shake. _'Well then, we could always go with the chain-sweeping,' _she suggested. _'I mean, it's a bit of a long shot but it could work.'_

_'No, she'd see it coming and dodge. We need to narrow down her position more accurately first, then we can try… hmm.' _A tiny cascade of snow spilled down over her hand, dislodged by her earlier movement, and the seed of an idea took root. _'Okay, I think I have something. Listen closely, Arf. Here's what I need you to do…'_

Forty seconds of quick but careful work later, their preparation time ran out. Bardiche's mental tone alerted her to a search spell converging on her location, and Fate didn't waste any time. Like a golden arrow, she shot out from her hiding place and towards the rough area she thought Nanoha was currently occupying.

Pink light flared, widely spaced enough that it didn't pinpoint any source in particular. It coalesced into balls of light that shot towards her, half a dozen shooting spells in each barrage. She dodged and swerved around most of them, and the football-sized spheres of orange that orbited her darted into the path of those she couldn't avoid. She lost two of them as they were broken by the force behind the shots, scattering their payloads harmlessly. But that was fine; she had brought a dozen for a reason, and ten was still more than enough.

Reaching roughly the right height, she darted left to avoid another wave, and shouted without care to keep her communication private. _'Now!'_

The spheres, to a one, exploded. Snow burst out from them in a fine powder, directed outwards and away from her, saturating the air with a fine mist of snowflakes. Fate's head was already turning as Bardiche searched the cloud for any sign of movement, any holes, any motion that disturbed it. Nanoha might be invisible, but she wasn't intangible, and her presence in the cloud from the improvised grenades would show up like a light on Fate's visor…

… there.

Fate flashed in, anticipating Nanoha's next step and meeting the hasty barrage of shooting spells with her own. The flashes from their collisions were briefly blinding – one or two slipped past her, but Arf responded instantly, deflecting them with barriers so that Fate didn't even need to think about them. She couldn't afford to, she knew what was coming next and while she thought she had a way to circumvent it, it was totally untested and would need all her concentration to pull off.

And as expected, as she closed the rest of the distance to Nanoha, she felt the spike of a Flash Move. The other girl was trying to get away, to get distance again, to separate them and return to her optimal range. But she wasn't the only one with mobility spells. And Fate was better at them.

Focusing every mote of processing power she could spare on the mana trace, Fate threw herself into a Blitz Action. But instead of targeting it to an endpoint location, she latched onto the fading mana trail of Nanoha's Flash Move. It was something she'd only come up with recently, following another person's speed spell, and she wasn't entirely sure it would work. But she pushed her mana into the spell – more than usual, to compensate – and blurred.

It was a bumpy ride, rougher than her normal crisp, clean bursts of high-speed movement. The accuracy wasn't that good either, she came out at least two or three metres behind Nanoha, who was still dusted with a fine coat of snow that was falling off her in trickles, giving away her position. But they were forty or more metres from where they had been, and she was still in close range. Nanoha was facing the wrong way, and Fate knew where she was now, and she was moving even as Nanoha's HUD screamed a warning at her, bringing her scythe up to strike.

Vesta saw her coming and leapt, giving up on invisibility and shifting to her War Form as she lunged towards Fate, putting herself in the way of her mistress. But Arf was ready for that, and orange chains snarled her as Fate blurred into another Blitz Action – draining, so soon after the last, but just as quick – and came out of it on the other side of Nanoha even as the girl turned, Raising Heart swinging up to point in the direction Fate had just left…

… and with a blindingly fast whisper of movement, the crackling blade of Bardiche's scythe form gently touched the fields above her neck.

Silence fell, and they hovered there for a moment. Both were breathing hard, Nanoha from shock and panic, Fate from the strain of following Nanoha's Flash Move. Slowly, Fate pulled Bardiche back and shifted it back into its default axe-blade configuration. "I win," she said simply. A blow with Bardiche counted as much as a shooting spell.

Nanoha pouted. "Yes, I know," she grumbled, her pride stung at having lost. But curiosity suppressed it. "How'd you do that? You can't have known where I was going, I picked it at random."

"I followed your Flash Move, actually." Arf released Vesta from the bind spell, and the four of them began to drift down to the ground again. Vesta returned to Nanoha's hood sulkily, muttering to herself in a string of unintelligible little growls and mewls. "Speed moves like that leave a mana trail, I just keyed mine to follow yours. It was harder than I expected, though. I'll need to practice."

_'Nanoha can help you practice!' _Arf suggested, and Fate raised an eyebrow at her friend. Nanoha wrinkled her nose, still a little sore about her loss, but nodded.

"Fine. But you have to show me how you did it in return!"

Fate tilted her head, thinking about it as they landed near the top of the crevasse and began to head back up the path towards the city. Linith had been very clear that they weren't allowed to fly home, in case they were spotted. "Well…" she said uncertainly, "I'm not sure you'll have the speed to pull it off, but… sure, I'll show you how the spell works. Oh, and Vesta's getting better, too! I couldn't find you at all at first."

_'I know!' _cheered Vesta smugly. _'Soon I'll be able to cloak mistress even when I'm not right next to her, and then I can do _fun _stuff!'_

"The snow thing was clever," Nanoha admitted. "And using the barriers to block me, too. Well done, Arf."

_'I wish I'd got to use my chain idea, though,' _Arf grumbled. _'I've been waiting for a chance to use that.'_

"Oh?"

_'Nuh uh!' _Glaring at Nanoha over Fate's shoulder, Arf shook her head stubbornly. _'It's a secret, I'm not giving it away ahead of time. You'll have to wait until we beat you with it!'_

_'Lies!' _objected Vesta, bouncing back out from Nanoha's hood onto her shoulder. _'Next time we'll beat you! And you'll be all humiliated and beaten and be going "why did I say that I would beat the amazing Nanoha and Vesta like that? I feel so silly and foolish!" and everything!'_

"Alright, alright, calm down," said Nanoha, giggling. "And let's get home again. I want to see my family."

* * *

…

* * *

It was a cold walk back through the streets of the city, pale blue advertising boards and the gold of the sunlamps washing over her face, which gave Nanoha time to think. And yes, gave her time to brood. It was at times like this that she most missed home; the anticipation of seeing her parents.

It wasn't that she was homesick. Not one bit. She was brave and strong and she was really happy here! So what if she couldn't talk to people without Raising Heart to help? So what if when she tried to practice the language outside of the house, people made fun of her accent and the way she could only stumble through basic conversations? So what if she had no real friends, that she was far more of an outsider than Fate – who was like a foreigner to the gaggles of tall blonde girls, while she was like someone who had been raised in some backwoods community? So what if the few sort-of-friends she did have were more Fate's friends than hers, and only hung around her because Fate refused to exclude her? So what if she stood out from all the girls in her year who… who were taller than her and looked a bit like Alicia and Fate in that same vague sort-of-not-quite-Eastern-European-ness?

She… she just wanted to see her parents and her brother and sister and Suzuka and Arisa. And just wanted to be in her home where she knew people and it wasn't cold all the time and… and she still wanted to live near Fate and Alicia but why did it have to be _here _of all places.

In her more rational moments, she knew why it had to be here. Schzenais was a world in the TSAB core planets, near the centre of where the ancient empires called 'Belka' and 'Galea' from her history lessons had been, and had the high living standards associated with that. But it wasn't a TSAB Administered world; it wasn't even a normal Aligned one. It didn't have standardised extradition treaties. If the Enforcers came for them here, it'd be an act of war.

So Precia had picked out this world, found a city, and chosen a – fairly expensive from what Nanoha understood – private school for her two daughters, her niece – Arf – and two sisters, the daughters of a family friend who had died. They were day students, but Precia had gently hinted to them that when she got too sick they would switch over to being boarding students. It was all neat and planned out; funds and arrangements set up until they were adults. It all made sense.

But Nanoha didn't _want _it to make sense. Right now, she – oh so selfishly – just wanted to be home.

The scrying spell was getting a feed back when they arrived home. Linith drifted into the room as Nanoha sat down in front of the screen it was anchored to, and tried not to look like she was hovering.

"Remember to be careful," she cautioned. "If you lose the signal, you'll have to wait another day to try again."

Nanoha nodded, not really listening. It was advice she'd heard before, anyway. Even through dimensional space, there was a limit to how fast light could travel. With eleven light-hours between them and Earth, it had taken almost a full day for the spell she had laboriously cast the previous evening to return with what it had seen. Now she just had to decipher the signal to see how her family was doing.

"Raising Heart?" she asked. "I'm going to need you to handle this again, okay?"

[Ready,] chimed the Device. [Just like always, master.]

With Raising Heart's help, the images began to resolve from the signal that had returned. Well, 'help'. Nanoha was aware that her Device was the one handling most of the mathematics in this case, even more than usual. She knew basically _what _she was doing – Linith had explained it as being like sending lots of video cameras to Earth and then catching what they were sending back – but how it worked was entirely beyond her. She was sure that if she could understand the maths, she could do it better… but when she had tried taking one of the spells apart, it had only looked a tiny bit like the normal search spells she did grasp. Even with Raising Heart's help, she'd made mistakes with one or two of the fortnightly spells she was allowed to see her family with, and Precia only let her retry once each time to avoid the TSAB noticing.

On that note, Nanoha couldn't really argue with her. Precia was doing an enormous amount for her – Nanoha's skills at magic had improved in leaps and bounds since the elder Testarossa had begun to teach her, and she was swiftly closing ground on Fate in terms of magic, though the blonde would probably always be better than her at the tactical side of combat. There was a small amount of resentment – on one occasion she'd messed up with the second spell as well, and had to wait for another two weeks to see how her family was doing. But she was well aware that everything they'd all worked for would be ruined if the TSAB found out they were still alive. Secrecy was still their best defence.

With Raising Heart's help, the first images began to ripple into view. She went for the ones around her house first, looking fondly at the familiar garden. From the light levels, it looked like it was early evening – it was tricky keeping the relative times straight, given the differing day lengths – but there weren't any lights on inside. Maybe they had gone to sleep already? Nanoha wrinkled her nose in annoyance. She liked seeing them up and about – fast asleep was boring, and felt a bit awkward. Well, maybe her mother would sense the scrying spell and wake up. Would sense – would have sensed, rather. The idea that this was all almost eleven hours ago was still hard to get her head around. She switched to a different image, one from inside.

It was the kitchen, still unlit. But… Nanoha frowned. She could see the clock from here, and it looked like…

"Raising Heart?" she asked. The Device could analyse the fine details of the feed much better than she could. "What time does that say?"

[6:30, master,]

Nanoha frowned again, peeved. That was far too early for them to be in bed. Maybe they were out, then? She huffed irritably. "Raising Heart, can you find Mama's feed, please?" She had been planning to see how Arisa and Suzuka were doing, but she wanted to see her family first.

[Got it,] Raising Heart confirmed. After a short pause as it located and deciphered the correct feed, the image resolved itself for Nanoha to see. For a brief moment, stunned silence filled the air. Then…

"_Mama!_"

Nanoha's terrified scream brought Fate, Arf and Vesta into the room at a dead run.

"Nanoha? What is i…" Fate's voice cut off in a gasp as she skidded to a halt beside her friend and caught sight of the screen herself. Vesta mewled in distress and Arf sputtered for a moment as she sought for words.

_'What _happened?_' _she demanded furiously, finding her voice. _'Why is she… how did she…?'_

On the small screen, Momoko lay propped up on a couple of pillows in what was clearly and recognisably a hospital bed. She looked awful, with three large welts covering the left side of her face and an ugly purple black eye swollen enough that it was doubtful whether she could see out of it. The rest of Nanoha's family, as well as Arisa and Suzuka, were in the room with her, in varying states of agitation.

Arisa was the most obviously angry, animatedly waving her arms and shouting something Nanoha could barely catch, apparently directed towards the room at large. Kyouya looked almost as furious as she did. Suzuka and Miyuki looked more concerned and upset than angry, and Shiro's face showed no emotion at all. Only a hard, impassive mask, with only the set of his jaw and his hooded brows giving away the rage it was holding back.

Whatever Arisa was shouting about seemed to tail off, and Shiro said something short and pointed. The sound was fuzzy, and Nanoha didn't quite catch it, but from the reactions of the others, it was evidently a question of some kind. All heads turned to Momoko, and Nanoha raised the volume slightly to hear.

Her mother looked up blearily, considered for a moment, and then shrugged.

"I don't know," she said apologetically. "I didn't see them… I sensed magic nearby, and called out. Nobody answered, so I tried to put up a shield. And then… something hurt, in my chest, and I saw a light. And then everything went black."

Nanoha's lips pressed together thinly. So. Her mother had been hurt by something magical, and she hadn't seen what had done it. More than that, she must be magically exhausted as well – normally, Momoko could sense when Nanoha was scrying on her, and would smile or wave, but she seemed entirely oblivious at the moment. And one shield wasn't anywhere near that strenuous. Whatever had hurt her, it had sucked away her mana. Nanoha turned around to find that Precia had entered the room at some point, and was regarding her gravely.

The young girl looked her mentor of the past six months in the eye. Her voice was almost steady, with only the faintest trace of a quiver. "I have to go back," she said bluntly and somewhat unnecessarily. "My mother is hurt. I need to help her."

* * *

…

* * *

Alicia knew how sucky and unfair it was when your mummy was hurt, because her mummy bad been sick or something – nobody had quite explained it in detail – ever since she had woken up again from how she'd been asleep for years and years and years like the magical princess woken from her frozen tomb after her kingdom had been wiped out in that story. Only it had only been twenty five years, instead of a thousand. Which wasn't quite the same.

She was still adjusting to that, to be honest. But even though it was the future and she was technically _old _– like, thirty _years _old! – things in the worlds didn't seem too different to what she remembered. The big differences were in the people she knew – her mummy was older and paler and iller, and Linith was huggy and warm but hadn't been there before.

And then there was her sister. She had a big sister! Only technically she was a little sister, just one who was bigger than Alicia, but 'big-little sister' sounded weird. Maybe 'little-big sister' would work better. Anyway, she was called Fate, and was kind of serious, but she was always very intent on making sure Alicia was happy. Linith had told her that Fate and her friend Nanoha had fought and done lots of work to make Alicia better from how she'd been asleep, so she owed them a lot.

And now Nanoha's mummy was hurt! It was like a sign, though exactly what it was a sign of, Alicia wasn't entirely sure. Still, she was certain of one thing. Nanoha had helped her mummy when Alicia was in her hurt-sleep, and the fact that Alicia was awake and able to go to school and play with Arf and Vesta – who were both totally cool because they were super-secretly animals and familiars – today was largely down to that. The older girl had even had to leave her family behind and come with them, and while it was clear she liked magic and Fate and Alicia herself, she still got very homesick sometimes.

She had worked very hard, and given up a whole big lot of things, to help Alicia's family.

So now that her mummy was in trouble, it was only fair that they helped hers. Alicia was not one to stand around when someone she cared about was upset. She burst into the room and drew herself up to her full height, which was admittedly still rather unimpressive.

"We'll help!" she declared forcefully. "Right, mama? And if someone mean did it, you and Big Sis and Arf and Vesta can beat them up and maybe make them say they're very sorry and then they might join our side like you did with Big Sis and then I would have more friends and your mama would be better and everything would be better!"

Silence followed this announcement for a moment, before a watery giggle escaped Nanoha, breaking the pale mask of horror and fear she had been wearing. After a few more sounds somewhere between laughs and sobs, she got up and hugged Alicia gratefully.

"Thank you, Alicia-chan," she mumbled croakily. "That made me feel a bit better. And thank you for offering to help." She looked over uncertainly at Arf and Fate as she said it. Fate nodded firmly, and the wolf rolled her eyes in response.

_'Oh, yeah. Like there was any chance whatsoever of us not being right behind you in this.' _She huffed. _'I told you, you're family. We'll…'_

"We will not be rushing off anywhere," a smooth voice cut her off. Arf's eyes widened and Nanoha's face crumpled as all heads turned to Precia, and silence fell again. It eventually fell to Vesta to break the confused quiet.

_'… what?'_

Precia sighed tiredly, thoughts moving fast as she rubbed at her temples. With a hand gesture and a command to her Device, she brought up a map of the relevant projection of dimensional space, hanging purple-lit in the air. On one side of the map was where they were, Schzenais , surrounded by trade routes and world details. As they panned, the marked worlds and routes thinned out, until they reached the lonely marker for Unadministered World 97, almost the final world along its chain. Silently she stared at the map, as if commanding it to be different. The children were silent, perhaps grasping the seriousness of the moment.

"I am not forbidding Nanoha from going to her mother's aid, child," she rebuked, after a quiet moment of thought. "Although I must ask her how serious she is. If she is certain that she wishes to travel for the better part of a month to get there and back, for what might just have been a normal accident." She glanced at Nanoha.

"It's not just an accident!" Nanoha said fiercely. "And I'm going and that's fi…"

"As I said, I am not stopping you," Precia said. "Merely… setting limits on how. Think. It has been six months, but the Bureau's attention may still not have faded entirely. I am… reluctant to allow any travel back at all…" she glanced at Alicia, who was staring at her with a stubborn expression that foretold great trouble if she didn't hear a result she liked, and capitulated, "… but under the circumstances, I cannot reasonably deny Miss Takamachi's obvious need to return to her home."

She pursed her lips, considering. "It would be best to keep numbers as low as possible to reduce the teleport signature," she decided. "Nanoha will of course be going, and I would suggest that Linith go with her to deal with any remaining sensors – doubly due to the fact that they are almost certainly not calibrated to detect her signature, and she can therefore get close enough to compromise them. However… I would suggest that everyone else stay behind."

_'No way!' _Vesta protested. _'You can't ask me to stay behind while Nanoha goes into danger!'_

"I can," Precia frowned at her, "and I will. This first trip is for reconnaissance, nothing more. For the purposes of stealth, the party size must be kept as low as possible. Nanoha and Linith are both necessary – they will go in, see what happened and send a message back to us. Unless you can give me a good reason why you are essential to the process, you are staying here."

_'But… I mean…' _Vesta looked helplessly at Nanoha and Linith. The older cat-familiar smiled reassuringly at her.

"Don't worry," she soothed. "I'll be there with Nanoha to keep her safe, and if we do find trouble, we'll call you in. Okay?"

Vesta didn't look terribly happy about it, but she nodded reluctantly. _'I guess I can trust you to look after her,' _she admitted. _'You are a cat, even if you're not me.'_

That drew giggles or chuckles from everyone save Precia, and Nanoha fondly ruffled the fur on her kitten's head. "I guess we've never been apart for more than a day before, huh?" she mused. "Don't worry. We'll be back together before you know it, and you can take my place guarding Alicia-chan while I'm away. I trust you to do a good job!"

* * *

…

* * *

Despite Nanoha's optimism, however, she and Linith did not get to Earth and back so soon. The trip to Earth took a week.

It wasn't an eventful week. There were many adjectives Nanoha could use to describe it – frustrating, monotonous, exhausting, tense with worry – but 'eventful' was definitely not among them. The days blurred together in what seemed like an endless series of teleports, jumping again and again with short, ten to twenty minute breaks on each world to recharge before another gruelling dimensional shift.

It had been a thing of bitter disappointment to Nanoha to find that magic could only go so fast. Literally. Three hundred thousand kilometres sounded like a really long way to go in a second, but distances in dimensional space were really, _really _long. It took her spells _eleven hours _to get to Earth and as long to get back. And spells could travel in a way that she - as a person, not a small packet of mana - couldn't.

A reasonably powerful mage could cover around a light-hour a day via teleport, if they jumped as often and as far as possible for as long as they could, and made use of whatever teleport-boosting stations they could find. It was draining, brutal work that left a mage shattered at the end of every day, and for extended trips it was almost always preferable to take a ship instead. The might be considerably slower, but they also meant that you didn't collapse onto the floor every evening and wake with barely enough mental stamina to manifest a Jacket, let alone face another eight-hour series of jumps.

But Nanoha had no interest in comfort. Speed was her objective, and though her muscles screamed and her bones ached with weariness, she pushed them to go ever faster. And it was working. Her impatience aside, Linith reassured her every night that they were making good progress, half as fast again as most mages would be capable of. Seven days, the cat-familiar told her, was as fast as they could expect to go, and it was unlikely that the situation had worsened too much in that time.

On that last note, Nanoha suspected Linith was lying to spare her feelings – she knew from experience how shockingly quickly a situation could descend into chaos – but there was no way to check, not when they were still hours out and a scrying spell would take more time and power than they had to spare. They couldn't even communicate with Precia and the others, not with Linith masking their presence to the best of her abilities.

And so they came, eventually, to the last camp. A bare three hops from Earth, they reached it in what by the opinion of their body clocks was late evening, and what seemed to be somewhere in the middle of the afternoon by local time. Nanoha had wanted to keep going the tiny hop further to Earth, but Linith had overruled her, setting up their tent in the shade of a large, sprawling rock pile that sheltered them from the wind on three sides.

"No," the cat-familiar said flatly. "We're both exhausted, it's already early evening over there, I don't trust myself to conceal our arrival enough that any potential hostiles might not detect it, and most of all… Nanoha, hold out your hand."

Scowling at her stubbornly, Nanoha did so. It trembled with fatigue, mirroring the low-level shaking of her whole body. Linith gave her a knowing look, apparently able to sense the throbbing headache and lead weights that had apparently replaced Nanoha's bones at some point via some kind of maternal telepathy. Or possibly she was just looking at the shaking and the way she couldn't stop her eyes blearily slipping out of focus every so often. Either way, Nanoha was forced to admit that she might – just might – have a point.

This didn't seem to be enough for the older woman, who decided to make it an easier choice for her. "Look," she said gently. "Nanoha. You know full well you're in no condition to do anything if you arrive on Earth now. If there is any real danger, the only thing you're capable of doing at the moment is to fall over on it. And if there isn't, it won't matter if we wait another few hours to rest up and get some strength back. Besides, I have something I want to give you before we go in. So I'll make this simple, either you go to sleep on your own, or I use a soporific spell to _make _you. I'm not as tired as you, so you're in no condition to throw it off."

"… can't you go forward, then?" Nanoha asked. It was definitely just asking a simple academic question, and not in any way whining, no matter what kind of raised eyebrow Linith gave her. "Or just scry on them to check they're okay? Please?"

But Linith remained dispassionately uncompromising. "Even if I weren't magically exhausted myself," she declared, "I'm not going to do anything that might alert whatever might be waiting for us. But, if you think you can stay awake long enough, I will show you the surprise I've brought along. For obvious reasons, we don't want to give away who we are. So I brought along a little remodel for your Barrier Jacket – something to conceal your identity. You can load it into Raising Heart and be fairly free to operate without fear of being recognised." She paused. "Just… ah… don't go _too _overboard with magic. This is a fairly high-end disguise, and the colour-shift it applies to your magic will be relatively secure, but your bigger spells may well break it. And… are also fairly recognisable on their own."

Nanoha cocked her head in interest. "A disguise?" she mused. "What does it look like? Can I see?"

Linith nodded. "Yes… now, bear in mind. Firstly, it won't be able to do much to disguise your height if it's to be at all effective, so you'll still look fairly young. Secondly, the shifting of your magic colour is an illusion worked into all of your spells – that means it'll be overhead on Raising Heart, so it will slow all your other spells down and make them harder. And thirdly, sufficiently advanced equipment will be able to unscramble the alterations, so be sure to just run if someone like the TSAB show up – they can probably identify you from the spectral pattern of your magic, given the amount of footage they have of it."

Nanoha blinked warily at her as she explained, and Linith noticed her eyes slowly sliding closed every few seconds before she tugged them open again with what appeared to be a concentrated effort of will. She quietly resolved to repeat this lecture for the girl tomorrow morning, when they were both rather more awake.

"Now, with all that said," she continued, "the altered Barrier Jacket you'll be wearing looks like this." Pressing her hands together, she drew them apart to reveal a slowly turning three-dimensional image of the proposed disguise. Nanoha examined it quietly for a few moments, scrutinising it from all angles.

"… it looks a bit… bland," she eventually mumbled. The exhaustion was really starting to show, and Linith smiled. "And it covers… it's a… what's the word for the head-covery thing? Like a hood bit but all around?"

"It's a helmet, and it's there to make you generic and hard to identify," Linith teased gently. "And I think now you really need to go to bed. Go on, shoo. I'll wake you up in the morning."

Grumbling something resentfully in her native tongue –which Raising Heart either didn't bother to translate or couldn't understand due to how Nanoha was slurring her words – the girl crawled into the tent, her Jacket dissolving around her as she did. She was out like a light within seconds.

A few minutes later, Linith delicately stepped into the tent in cat form and picked up Raising Heart from where it lay next to its master's pillow. A brief check told her that yes, Nanoha had set an alarm to wake herself up early the next "morning". And pre-set the teleport spells that would take her to Earth, no less. Linith wasn't terribly surprised to see that the girl had only allotted herself four hours of sleep. Nanoha was depressingly easy to predict in some ways, once you got to know her. You just had to imagine wilfully ignoring your limits right up until the point you collapsed.

Quietly removing the alarm and dropping the Device back next to its owners head, Linith curled up on top of her. The familiar feeling of a cat in her bed might help her sleep better. And besides, it was cold. She wasn't worried about Nanoha waking up before her. The girl was so exhausted that left to herself, she probably wouldn't wake up until next morning local time, for all that it was the middle of the afternoon at the moment. And Linith wanted her to sleep for as long as possible. Both of them were tired from the gruelling race to get here so fast, and for all that she had stayed optimistic about the situation being benign for Nanoha's sake, the cat-familiar had a sinking feeling that it wasn't.

Twelve hours of sleep wouldn't put Nanoha back up to peak condition. Not by a long shot.

But it might be enough to stop her from getting hurt if things turned as sour as Linith feared.

* * *

…

* * *

"Big siiiiiis!" A percussion in Fist minor hammered out its symphony on the door. "Big sis! Help!"

Fate blinked, startled from her reverie. She looked up at the window reflexively, but it was no use; it was a blizzard outside from what she could see in the sunlamp-lit darkness. How long had she been sitting here, staring at a static palm-sized picture? Never mind. She shook herself, gesturing the door open and swivelling round in the slightly-oversized chair her room's desk came with. A mental nudge flipped off the name-replacement subroutine in Bardiche – they were at home, after all, and the false names began to grate after a while. She was willing to use them at school, but for a little sister in distress they were most definitely not appropriate.

"Alicia?" she asked concernedly. "What's- oh."

Her little sister had her arms around another little girl, grey-haired and blue-eyed, swathed in her trademark black frock. She was currently red-rimmed from crying, and her lips held a definite wobble to them.

"Vesta is all upset and crying and I don't know what to do!" explained Alicia frantically. "I tried hugging her and saying things would be alright and it didn't work! It just got my dress all wet! And you're really smart and good at crying stuff and thinking and things so I brought her to you so make her stop because it's bad when people are crying and she's sad!"

"Um," said Fate, caught off-guard and trying to adjust to this sudden torrent of babble. Even after six months, Alicia could still sometimes throw her into a mental tailspin. She was _sure _she didn't remember being like this when she was at that age. Mind you, at her age she had only been 'her' for six months, and was still learning from Linith and her mother who 'she' really was, this strange not-Alicia they called Fate.

"And Nanoha isn't here and I would have taken her to Linith but she's not here either and," Alicia's voice dropped conspiratorially out of her rapid-fire chatter for a moment, "maybe it's _cat _business!"

Fate looked at her sister in confusion for a second. Then at Vesta. She sighed, and motioned for the kitten-familiar to come closer. Miserably, the little girl did so, her face set in a sullen scowl. She was in her child-form, and looked to be about Alicia's age.

Sensing that she was no longer needed, Alicia backed out of the room and headed off to play with Arf. Behind her retreating form, Fate patted the padded seat of the swivel chair, pushing it further out from the desk.

"I think there's some space on here," she offered. "If you want."

Vesta didn't move. She stayed where she was, scuffing an undersized boot against the ground and playing with the hemline of her frock, her eyes glued to the floor. Fate tried another tack.

"You know…" she remarked quietly, "I've been missing Nanoha a bit." She noted Vesta's ears perk slightly, and continued. "I mean, since I met her we haven't been apart for very often. I'm feeling a bit lonely without her. I could use a hug to comfort me."

That got her a glance. "… well," muttered Vesta grudgingly, "I s'pose if _you _need comforting…"

Fate hid her smile and nodded seriously, and Vesta trotted over to climb awkwardly up onto the swivel chair, shedding her boots as she did so. Red light glowed for a moment as the shoes dissolved back into mana. It was a little cramped with both of them in the seat – which was large, but not that large – and Vesta wound up half-sitting rather heavily in Fate's lap with the older girl's arms around her in a loose hug. But she seemed rather less upset, and that was the important thing.

They sat in companionable silence for a while, Fate idly half-stroking, half attempting to pat down the mad tangle of spiky locks that stuck up in every direction from Vesta's head, before the catgirl began to speak out of the blue into the crook of Fate's neck. It was a little hard to make out what she was saying, but Fate listened patiently.

"S'not that I'm _worried _or anything," Vesta mumbled. "I mean, mistress is… is _Nanoha_, she's not gonna be… be hurt or anything." Her voice hitched slightly as she finished. Fate declined to comment, and just squeezed her softly. "It's just… it's… I haven't seen her for a whole _week_."

She squirmed around, turning to look up at Fate miserably. "You know? A-and… and it'll be another whole week before I can see her again! Or more, even! And if there's something there then I won't be able to guard her or shield her and I know Linith is there but she's not _me _and she doesn't know Nanoha like I do and what if she expects me to be there like how we were training to fight together and does something that needs me as well because she forgets and then she gets hurt and it's…"

She stopped abruptly, blinking and going cross-eyed as she tried to focus on the finger covering her lips.

"Hey now," Fate soothed her. "No Mistress or Master wants to leave their familiar alone for any length of time. I'm sure Nanoha misses you as much as you're missing her, and you'll be back together soon. And Linith will take good care of her in the meantime." She tickled under Vesta's chin, producing a surprised purr and a giggle. "Maybe," she suggested, "you could work on making a surprise of some sort for when Nanoha comes back. That might make the time go a bit faster, right?"

"I guess…" Vesta frowned, a trace of animation coming back to her despondent features. "What kind of thing should I make her, though?"

"Use your imagination! Though…" Fate grimaced, "it might be an idea to check with me before starting once you have an idea. Arf once decided to make me a giant mud pie… I mean, the thought was nice, but the end product wasn't." She tilted her head in remembrance. "Especially since she seemed to have entirely the wrong idea about what a mud pie was. Anyway." She ruffled Vesta's hair. "The other thing I'd suggest is – Nanoha left you to guard Alicia, didn't she?"

"Uh huh." Spiky grey hair bounced wildly as Vesta nodded, and shifted again slightly. Fate tried not to wince. Her leg was going to sleep with Vesta sitting on it like that – for a light-looking little thing, she was certainly heavy enough. Not to mention pointy and hard – all elbows and shoulderblades.

"Well, it's been getting colder lately. Maybe you should sleep in Alicia's bed to keep her warm and stop her catching anything. Arf could, too. I'm sure the three of you could play some fun games in your room before going to sleep, too."

"Yay!" In a flash of light, the girl was gone and a rather-less-upset kitten was eagerly licking her hand and purring up a storm. _'That's a great idea! _she sang excitedly . _'Alicia was right, you're smart! Thank you!'_

While Fate appreciated the sudden lack of weight on her leg, she tapped the kitten on the head with a frown. "Vesta," she reprimanded warningly. "You know you're meant to stay a little girl. No kitten-form except in practice. Even in the house."

Another flash of light, and the little girl returned. Fate winced again. Well, at least this time she was on the other leg.

"Sorry," apologised Vesta in a tone that made it fairly clear that she didn't really mean it. "I'll remember next time. But now I need to go and ask Alicia and Arf for ideas on what to make for Nanoha's coming-back present which will be super-duper-awesome and the best thing ever so thank you again and bye!"

She scurried off. Fate watched her go with an odd smile – Vesta's rapid twists and turns of emotion were often baffling, but always amusing – and turned back to her desk. She picked up the picture she had been staring at, fingers tapping restlessly against the frame. Her own flushed, laughing face stared back at her, along with Nanoha's. Her friend had an arm hooked around her neck, with Vesta riding on her head and Arf balancing precariously on their touching shoulders. Fate vaguely recalled that they had all gone tumbling to the floor in a big pile seconds after Linith had snapped the shot. It had taken them nearly ten minutes to get untangled again, mostly because they were laughing so hard.

She couldn't even remember what they had been laughing at, now.

She had lied to Vesta. Despite the confidence she had displayed for the kitten-girl's benefit, she was worried. She couldn't help it. The last time Nanoha had investigated something strange on Earth, it had been… well, her. The Jewel Seeds, at least. And that had sucked them into a month of tense, terrifying and often-painful stress, struggle and strife. It had all turned out for the best – at least for Fate's family – but Nanoha hadn't come off so lightly.

And now she was back there again. Investigating something strange and possibly hostile, again. And Fate wasn't there to help her.

She couldn't shake a horrible feeling that this wasn't going to be as simple as a quick reconnaissance and reunion.

* * *

…

* * *

The transition from mid-morning sun to the middle of the night was a rather jarring one, Linith reflected. But then, sudden shifts in local time were one of the many oddities of world-hopping between Types.

Still, despite the starry night sky above her, Linith was wide awake and refreshed from a good eight or nine hours. So was Nanoha, though the younger girl was waiting behind as Linith disabled the TSAB sensors, quietly wiping their memories of the mana signatures they'd been designed to look for.

_'Don't tell me you're still sulking,' _she remarked conversationally. _'Honestly, Nanoha. Can you really tell me that you don't feel much better now?'_

Sullen silence answered her. Linith sighed, and rolled her eyes, carefully starting to piece the football-sized sensor back together. She could have just shut it down entirely, but didn't want to risk the TSAB noticing its removal. No, simply wiping its memory was enough. With no orders to look for any mana signature in particular, it was effectively nullified as a threat. And even if the TSAB came back, they wouldn't know to check it!

_'So, does your mother look well?' _she enquired cheerfully. _'Or did something terrible happen to her while you were catching up on sleep?' _Nanoha had elected to wait at the hospital while Linith disabled the sensors around her family's house, floating outside her mother's window with a simple illusion wrapped around her to mask her from view. It wasn't nearly as elaborate as what Vesta could have done had she been there, cloaking her imperfectly as a heat shimmer and only in the visible wavelengths, but it was enough.

More sulky silence. Then, grudgingly…

_'It's the _principle_ of the thing,' _Nanoha complained. _'And you hacked Raising Heart! Traitor!' _It was hard to tell whether that last was directed at the cat-familiar or the Device in question.

Linith rolled her eyes, fed up. _'Would this be the principle of overworking yourself until you collapse?' _she reprimanded her young charge sharply. _'Or the principle making your mother worry about you being exhausted and barely able to stand at your reunion? _Her voice softened affectionately. _'Honestly… you're as bad as Precia, sometimes. Poor Vesta is really going to have her hands full, looking after you.'_

_'… I guess you kind of have a point…' _Nanoha's voice was shaded with embarrassment, and Linith guessed that she was blushing. The girl had a tendency to take any comparison to Precia as a compliment, even when it wasn't intended as one. Still, if it got her to listen and stop sulking, Linith supposed she could let it slide this time.

_'Mama looks… well, not okay, obviously. But not bad, either,' _continued Nanoha, answering Linith's earlier question. _'She's asleep, though, and I don't want to wake her. She doesn't seem to have her Device on her, either. I wonder where it is?' _She paused for a moment. _'Oh. Huh. Raising Heart says it's… I think that's Arisa-chan's house, from the direction. Maybe she's using it to practice?'_

_'Mmm. Maybe,' _replied Linith distractedly, focusing on the last tweak of reprogramming the sensor. _'Aaaand… there we go, done. Alright, your house is clear. Where should I tackle next, your shop? Hmm…'_

_'Well, I…' _started Nanoha, before stopping abruptly. _'… did you feel that?'_

Linith frowned, swivelling. _'Feel what? Wait…'_

_'It's from over near Arisa-chan's house… I only felt it because I was already looking there…'_

Shedding her illusion, Nanoha rose up onto the roof of the hospital, tuning Raising Heart to ping Arisa's Device again. The result that came back made her pale, for more reasons than one.

_'… barrier. It's a barrier. Linith, there's a barrier! Why is there a barrier around… Arisa's…'_

The question answered itself before she even finished asking it, and she trailed off in horror. _'I need to…'_

_'No!' _Linith shouted. _'There's still a sensor there, I need to disable it first! Nanoha! If it picks you up, _the TSAB will know! _You _have _to wait! I'll disable it as quickly as possible, but promise me you won't go charging in!'_

Furious silence met her as she threw herself into flight, hoping she would reach the location before Nanoha did. The girl's previous resentment paled in comparison to this. When the answer finally came, it was tinged with sullen acceptance of Linith's logic, but she could hear the anger and frustration bubbling below the surface.

_'Fine. But if she gets hurt, Linith… if it looks like she's going to be hurt, I'm going in anyway.'_

Snarling into the rushing wind, Linith forbore to reply, and tried to squeeze a few more drops of speed out of her flight spell.

* * *

…

* * *

Arisa woke up in a cold sweat, wrenched from slumber by something she couldn't put a name to immediately. She instinctively grabbed for the card that hung from a cord around her neck. She hadn't taken it off since Momoko had given it to her after Suzuka's attack, not even in the shower.  
Her form flickered and blurred, resolving in the middle of the room as she activated the spell pre-loaded on it and Ghost Stepped out of bed, stumbling slightly on the carpet and falling over with a clatter.

It wasn't a comfortable way to wake up. Arisa had called her movement spell 'Ghost Step' – which she had invented by combining two of the ones from the book together – because it brought to mind things like 'cool' and 'elusive' and 'inexplicable'. It probably was, from the point of view of a normal person watching it, because you just vanished and then appeared somewhere else. From the viewpoint of the person doing it, though, it was more like 'temporarily going blind because the Device is transmitting all the light around you, get hurled in roughly the direction you wanted, and try to do the numbers in your head which make you brake before landing'.

She was in a position to know. She'd been doing it a lot, recently. Ever since Momoko-sensei had been attacked, she'd been jumpy, nervous. Suzuka-chan being hurt the same way had only elevated it to full-blown paranoia. She had at least managed to get a glimpse of her attacker – a tall, dark figure in strange clothes, carrying a malevolently glowing tome.

Both of them were recovering, albeit slowly. But Arisa knew she was next. It had got to the point where she was Ghost Stepping whenever something startled her and face-planting in the floor whenever she failed to brake properly coming out of it. Which was about two spells in every five. Thankfully, she hadn't done it in front of anyone other than a few puppies yet, but if the situation continued to fray on her nerves, it was only a matter of time.

And her nerves were certainly frayed now. Blinking in annoyance at the dark room – the glowing numerals of her bedside alarm clock told her it was something like three in the morning – she groped her way over to the door and flicked on the lights.

Nothing happened.

Okay, she told herself, squashing down the fast, shallow flutterings of panic and forcing herself to breathe slowly and normally. So the bulb was blown, or they'd had a power cut. No problem, she'd just open the curtains. Everything was still fine. She wasn't in any danger, it was just another nightmare or something.

She pulled aside the curtains, letting silvery moonlight fall in through the double-glazed window to flood the room.

And her heart caught in her throat. For the light that shone down on her wasn't the pale light of the moon. No, it was dark and tinted, a deep violet-grey that bleached the colour of the landscape and lent an eerie sense of wrongness to the familiar lines and curves of her garden. Under the strange colour-shifted sky, every bush seemed to conceal lurking terrors; every hedge was an entry point for sneaking monsters. Arisa choked out a terrified squeak of fright as panic consumed her.

It was the same as that time before.

It was them. The government people that had been fighting Nanoha, who had driven her away – she was sure of it. They had come back and attacked Momoko for helping her, and then Suzuka, and now it was her turn. She trembled like a leaf, eyes wide, breath coming fast and shallow as her pupils shrank down and her vision tunnelled. She tried desperately to cling to rational thought, to force herself to move or run or hide or _something _other than just stand there like a mouse caught in the eyes of a snake.

Out in the garden, something shifted.

The next minute or so was a series of blurred, tear-stained, panic-ridden jolts as adrenaline flooded into her system and her body took over from her brain. Operating on a mixture of shock and fear, it made full use of the Storage Device around her neck and the spell she had spent the last six months practicing in every spare moment. Rational thought only returned when the latest one in the chain failed – as her spells still often did, even after so much practice – and left her sprawled out on a hard surface, panting like she had just run a marathon.

Struggling to her feet, she tried to get her bearings. She was… she was outside. On the patio behind the house. How had she got all the way down here? She couldn't remember. She also knew that there was no point in looking for her parents. This was a dimensional barrier – like the one she and Suzuka had been trapped in six months ago, when the sky had caught fire and shattered like glass under a rose-tinted blowtorch.

She had no chance of putting out that much power. And she rather doubted that she could get out of the barrier by trying to Ghost Step through the edge. But her chances of _fighting _whatever had done this were even closer to zero, and she could only hide for so long – it wasn't as though they were going to give up and leave. No, the only option she had left was to run for the edge of the barrier and pray that she could slip through somehow. And if she couldn't…

… well, she'd handle that when she got there. Right now she was pathetically grateful just to have a plan. Clutching the card-form of the Device in a clammy hand, she dithered for a second on which way to go. How far did the barrier extend? Which edge was closest? There was probably a spell to find out, but if so she didn't know it. She'd have to…

Clink.

The sound came from above and behind. Her nerves already scraped raw, Arisa Ghost Stepped instantly, her image fading as the movement spell caught her up and she shot forward. She landed running, heard a crunch behind her and Stepped again, and again, scrambling and skidding to turn every time she came out to break line of sight. The third left her round the back of the house, and she flung herself into an alcove in the wall and huddled in it, shaking like a leaf.

"Tch…"

Arisa's trembling ceased. More than that, she froze, petrified. The voice had to have come from less than five metres away. If she poked her head out or made a sound, she was dead.

"This one is good for a rank amateur," the voice said. It was… strangely light. Female, but more than that, the tone spoke almost of a child, someone her age. There was the slight buzz in her ears which told her the Device was translating for her, that whatever they were speaking, it wasn't Japanese. But despite its seeming youth, the chilling edge to the voice swamped any hope of mercy. Arisa tried to muffle her gasps for air, wishing she had more mana– she'd already used up half her reserves, and wouldn't be up to another Ghost Step for several more seconds.

"I've lost her. Moving to reacquire." Footsteps sounded for a second, then a rustling noise and a rush of air. Wonderful. Whoever the girl was, she could fly. Like Nanoha could. Arisa felt an uncharacteristic pinprick of resentful jealousy towards her friend as she began to shake again, the paralysing terror gone for the moment with the girl's departure.

But it released the paralysis on her thoughts, as well. Bringing her fist up to her mouth and biting down hard on a knuckle to help her focus, Arisa desperately began to think.

Okay, she thought to herself. Okay. Right. Her plan hadn't changed. She needed to get to the edge of the barrier. That meant she had to move. Had to get going again. Move. She had to move. She had to stop trembling and breathing hard and imagining whatever that crunching sound behind her had been hitting her head or her legs. She had to move.

She didn't. Couldn't. Despite yelling at herself internally, she was frozen to the spot, unwilling to set foot outside the tiny alcove of security that had protected her from her attacker once. She knew it was absurd, but she just couldn't bring herself to venture out away from the three walls enclosing her like solid guardians.

Something flickered at the edge of her vision. Something red, and glowing. It moved out of her line of sight, then back into view; a golf-ball sized ball of red light that moved purposefully a couple of feet above the ground in a circuit around the house. Even as she registered this, it paused in its searching pattern, and despite the lack of any features, she got the distinct impression it was turning to look at her.

"…!" Arisa squeaked. She knew what the thing was. A search spell. Suzuka could pull off a small one – had done, only a few weeks ago, to find a little origami figure Momoko-sensei had hidden in her living room. Except this wasn't a small search spell covering one room. This was part of something that probably covered the whole _house_. And now that it had seen her…

Stumbling out of the alcove, Arisa began to run. A whistling sound behind her alerted her to an incoming threat, and she Ghost Stepped forward with so little space to spare that she felt her hair ruffled by the blow as it passed. The sound of splintering wood came as it continued on to hit an ornamental tree, and then something locked up around Arisa's ankle and send her sprawling.

As she'd half known the second it latched around her foot, it wasn't anything natural. Her ankle was encased in a red cube that held it firmly in place, no matter how hard she tugged. Scowling, she called up a training shot, resolving to fight. The decision didn't have much to do with courage – rather, it was more down to the fact that she was immobile, caught in the open and only had enough mana left for two or three more spells. But it was a decision nonetheless.

"Go away!" she shouted. Not the most original battle cry ever devised, but she honestly didn't care what she sounded like as long as she got out of this alive. She fired even before she finished taking in her assailant's appearance – a young girl with red hair and sharp blue eyes, wearing an archaic red dress and wielding a vicious-looking hammer. It looked like a Device, too. Whether it was or not, Arisa wasn't going to stick around to find out.

She didn't wait to see the amber ball burst against the other girl's face, making her flinch backwards in annoyance. Even as it struck, she threw half her remaining mana into another Ghost Step, praying that it would work to get her out of the lock on her leg. She felt it slacken as the shot struck home, more from surprise than pain, and combined with the paltry mana she was able to pump into the movement spell it gave, letting her flee back towards the house. Her ankle wrenched as it burst free, but the important thing was that she _was _free, not sprawled out on the ground and waiting for death.

Limping as fast as she could around a corner and out of sight, she sighted upwards, found an open window and pumped the last dregs of her mana into one last Step, and materialised on the first floor landing outside a row of guest rooms. Still moving. She slammed into the wall, bounced off, hit the ground and lay dazed for a moment before shaking herself awake again. From outside, she caught an angry yell of frustration, but she was too tired to pay attention to that. Panting, she dragged herself into one of the guest rooms and took stock.

Her mana was essentially gone. She might have enough left for another training shot, but even with the Storage Device helping, another Ghost Step was beyond her. She'd need a full night's sleep before even half her reserves came back, and she wasn't going to get that.

Physically she was a little better. There was some stinging pain on various parts of her back – when had that happened? A couple of loose splinters answered that question; shrapnel from the impacts of that hammer. And the girl had been swinging that thing at _her? _Other than that… she was tired, her arms hurt, her legs were burning in a way that told her she wouldn't be doing much more running around even if she had the energy, her ankle was starting to swell and probably sprained, and she felt sick, light-headed and freezing cold all at once.

But her hands were fine, and her arms weren't too tired. And she _refused _to just lie down and die. And... oh yes, her Device had a staff form, didn't it? Even if she couldn't use it, that was still a long metal pole. The corners of Arisa's mouth pulled back in what could charitably be called a grin, and realistically be called a grimace. No, she was not going to go down passively. She would resist. She would fight back. She would…

… scream, as the wall exploded.

Bits of rubble and plaster rained down on the room as Arisa cowered. When she felt it safe to look up, she found the red girl floating where the wall had been, scowling angrily.

"Stop _moving_, dammit!" she yelled angrily. "Urgh, and you don't even have a Jacket! I swear, what kind of maniac doesn't use a Barrier Jacket just so they can dodge more? Do you know how _careful _I'm having to be not to break you? Stay still or I swear I'll snap your legs, even if you don't have a Jacket!"

Arisa ignored this tirade, levelled the staff-form of her Device at the girl and fired.

Or tried to, anyway. But even with the Device's help, the training shot snarled and dissolved, falling apart. Eyes wide as she watched the last of her mana dissipate away into the air, Arisa made a high, wordless sound of protest at the _unfairness _of the universe making her screw up now, of all times. But whatever else she might be, she wasn't a quitter. Gathering herself, she growled and launched herself at her enemy in as fast a run as her injured ankle could take her, bringing the staff round in a wild swing.

With a bland expression of annoyance and a total lack of concern, the red-clad girl floated backwards less than ten centimetres, letting the tip of the staff pass a hairsbreadth in front of her nose. And then she swung the hammer, one-handed, a red bubble appearing around its head as time seemed to slow in a way that left Arisa mired in treacle but still able to see what was happening.

The blow was almost beautiful, in a horrible sort of way. It started high, arcing down from Arisa's left as she brought her staff up in a futile block, and continued clean through the metal pole without impediment before terminating in Arisa's ribcage. Even through the faintly stunned, briefly painless daze, she noticed that it didn't _feel _like a hammer-blow should. It felt… squishy. Like the bubble was made of bubble-wrap, muting the force of the impact to something survivable.

Then time sped up again, and she was sent sprawling backwards into the side of the bed as the two halves of the Storage Device went clattering away into the far corners of the room. Colours dripped and swam across her vision. A high-pitched ringing sound echoed around her head. The air in her lungs seemed to have gone on holiday, and had apparently been replaced in the meantime by a blunt pain that felt a bit like a cymbal must after a particularly hard whack. She was fairly sure she could feel her bones vibrating.

"… ugh…" Arisa wheezed, trying to focus on one of the five girls approaching her. She feebly lifted a hand halfway before the effort got too much for her and it fell limply back to her side.

In response, the red-clad girl stooped down and pulled out her heart.

The mote of light hung in the air like a weak, twinkling star, cradled in the gauntleted hand of the girl in red. Arisa forced out a choked rasp, gaping wide-eyed at the point of light and trying not to faint. There was an aching hollowness in her chest, and it felt like someone had their fingers around all of her internal organs and was _squeezing _– not enough to hurt yet, just enough to be terrifyingly uncomfortable.

With her other hand, her attacker reached behind her back and produced a book. It glowed with an evil violet light, and Arisa's eyes widened further. A horrid glowing tome… just like Suzuka had said. She tried to gather the energy to protest, to struggle. Nothing came.

The feeling of her mana being ripped out of her was mercifully brief. That was the only silver lining to it. It felt horrible, nightmarish, like being bled dry from the inside out through a wound that couldn't be plugged or bandaged. The book drank it in hungrily, devouring every last drop of mana she had in her in seconds – and she could tell that everything she had to offer barely dented its hunger. Writing appeared on its pages as it drank, fading into view as if the ink were rising to the surface of a deep pond, and Arisa's world began to turn hazy. Words reached her faintly, through the odd buzzing sound that was taking over her hearing.

"… one line? _One measly line? _Argh! Do you know how much time I wasted on this? I could have got more by hunting wild animals! You! Do you know what you've done! You made me waste my time because you just _couldn't _sit _still _like a good girl and went and drained yourself running away! Argh!" She jabbed a finger at Arisa. "Don't tell anyone else to do this, you hear me! Stupid cowards who spend more energy running than they would fighting back and making it hard for them and me!"

There were more words. But she didn't really listen to them. She watched the hammer as it rose again, waving wildly as the girl ranted. If it fell again… she wasn't sure what would happen if it fell again. Her head was all muzzy. But she remembered it would be bad. And then…

… and then…

… and then a ring of amber closed around the hammer, just underneath its head, and stopped it. Even as the girl's tug on it met resistance, a ball of brilliantly glowing orange smashed into the back of the her head. Arisa blinked.

Had she done that?

No.

There was a figure hovering just outside the ruined wall. Grey-clad, in a uniform that sort of looked like a soldier's ballistic vest and obscured its figures. It had a helmet, too, a sleek, smooth thing of matte grey that covered its whole head with no openings, and it held a staff with a two-tined steel head. As darkness closed in around the edges of her vision, Arisa groggily wondered how it could see to point the thing.

The figure spoke, in a voice modulated and made as featureless as its appearance by the same technology that disguised its face.

"Get _away _from my _friend_," it said.

And Arisa had just enough breath left to whisper "… -ha?" before everything turned black.

* * *

…

* * *

Nanoha hovered in the air, her face hidden behind the opaque face-shield of the helmet. Even though she knew her opponent couldn't see her expression, she glared. Some things didn't need eye contact. The red girl glared back, blue eyes narrowing in a way that made her seem almost feral.

"What are you doing?" she demanded, keeping her guard up and Raising Heart levelled in case the girl tried something. "Why are you attacking her?"

The girl didn't respond. Just glared at Nanoha, her expression both unconcerned and evaluative. The corners of her lips slowly turned up, in a predatory grin.

_'Nanoha?' _Linith asked. She sounded concerned.

_'No, stay back,' _Nanoha thought back quickly. _'I've got this. And it's best if we stay as secret as possible until we know more about what's going on, right? If she doesn't know about you, we should keep it that way for as long as we can.'_

_'… alright,' _Linith agreed reluctantly. _'But I'm still stepping in if I think it's needed.'_

_'Don't worry.' _The girl's tone was confident. _'She hurt my friend. I'm not going to lose this.'_

[Beschleunigen!] the girl's Device barked, dragging her back to reality. It pulsed an angry red as the girl shifted her grip with an ease that spoke of long practice.

With a contemptuous sniff, she wrenched on the Device. The bind Nanoha had placed around it… shattered. She actually felt it break, like fine china under a mallet. Belatedly, she realised that she might be in rather more trouble than she'd anticipated. Shifting into a more tactical mindset, she readied a volley of Divine Shooters, ready to fire at a moment's notice.

Except she didn't get a moment's notice. She didn't even get a second's.

[Tödlicher Schlag!]

With a barked command – even her Device sounded angry, a harsh metallic voice that sounded like iron and fury – the girl shot forward. Nanoha silently thanked the countless hours Fate and Linith had spent building on what Miyuki had taught her. Her arms shot into a guard position, bringing Raising Heart around to block and reinforcing it with mana without her even needing to think about it.

Despite the textbook-perfect block and the half-formed barrier she snapped up in the split-second she had, the blow sent her rocketing backwards. The girl was monstrously strong, whoever she was. But the increased distance between them worked to Nanoha's advantage. As her opponent shot out of the hole in the side of the house, she let fly with the shooting spells she had readied, six bolts of light flashing out as she gained altitude.

But the other girl was evidently almost as fast as she was strong. The hammer whipped out in precise, measured strikes, somehow tracking the blurred paths of the projectiles and snuffing them out one by one. The last three homed in together, and broke against a glowing triangular shield she conjured to meet them. She paused for a second, and the glowing red aura around the head of the hammer spread to the rest of her body, covering her in what looked almost like a fine red mist that clung to her skin and Barrier Jacket.

Then swirls of light appeared around her feet, and she shot towards Nanoha once again – far faster this time, clearly using some kind of movement spell. She wasn't even trying to dodge, though. Sighting down the length of Raising Heart, Nanoha threw a bind at her, her mind racing. The triangular casting sigil, the emphasis on physical combat… she recognised this from what she'd been taught, both in school and by Precia. This was no Midchildan mage. This was a Belkan knight.

The bind formed… and shattered, almost before it had finished solidifying. The girl's charge barely even stuttered.

Remembering all too well how formidable the Belkan style was at close range, Nanoha abandoned her offence in favour of putting more distance between them. She turned tail and fled, firing behind her whenever she could get a clear shot. But nothing seemed to work. Binds disintegrated so fast that they barely appeared before breaking. The streams of amber bullets bounced off the scarlet aura. She zigzagged and pinwheeled, trying to shake the girl off, but nothing seemed to deter her.

And she was gaining, metre by metre. Twice already Nanoha had been forced to turn through ninety degrees to avoid the edge of the barrier, allowing her pursuer to cut the corner and gain valuable distance on her – at these speeds, the battlefield was just too small. She stayed alert for a barrier blocking her path or a bind – either would need to be broken immediately if she wanted any chance of staying out of the range of that hammer.

But the end came not from a bind or a barrier. It came from an attack.

The red ball came out of nowhere. The girl must have fired it at some point during the chase, but Nanoha couldn't say when. The only warning she got was a faint whistle before it came shrilling out of the sky towards her.

"Ahh!"

Nanoha threw herself into a desperate spin to avoid it, pushing herself into a Flash Move to get far enough out of the way. Even with such a rapid response, it missed her by bare centimetres. But the intent had never been to hit her, she knew. The interruption had cost her crucial seconds – crucial seconds that the knight had used to catch up. Spinning around, she brought Raising Heart up to block the attack she knew was coming.

It came alright. But not from where she had been expecting it.

The knight must have risen slightly from where Nanoha had been mentally tracking her, because she was a good metre or so higher than expected. Too late, too slow, she lifted Raising Heart to block. Her Device added its own efforts, activating the auto-defence with a snapped-out [Protection!]

But in the end, even that wasn't enough.

The blow was slowed by the block, as it swatted Raising Heart aside with such strength that she was barely able to hang onto it with one hand. Cracking the hastily-raised barrier robbed it of yet more force. But though it was slowed and weakened, it wasn't stopped. The hammer struck dead centre on the brow of Nanoha's helmet, and stars burst in her eyes in time with an explosion of pain behind them. She reeled backwards, dimly aware of her helmet fracturing and falling away to bare her face. There was a blur of red in front of her, starting to move again…

"Flash… Impact," she choked out.

She would usually use the melee spell to attack with Raising Heart. But her staff had been knocked aside, held only loosely in her left hand, and bringing it back up again would take too long. So instead, she flooded mana into her fist, and lashed out with every ounce of magically-boosted force she could summon.

The punch caught the other girl full in the jaw with a cringe-worthy sound of breaking bone. It wasn't just from the knight, either. Both girls reeled for a moment in pain as Nanoha instinctively flew backwards, cradling her hand. Trying to open it only caused it to hurt worse, and she hissed in pain.

[Pain Reduce,] Raising Heart offered, and the throbbing of what were probably broken fingers lessened considerably. [We need to defend, master.]

"I know, I know," Nanoha muttered, testing her hand. She could move it… barely. But the spell hadn't healed the damage, only dulled the pain – it still hurt, and she could only manage a weak grip on the staff. She would have to compensate for that in the next round of attacks. The knight looked like she had recovered from the impact as well, so Nanoha started backing off again, while dredging her arsenal for something to finish the fight with. Binds wouldn't hold her, ordinary shots weren't enough, there was nowhere near enough time to charge up a bombardment attack…

… ah. Yes. That would do nicely.

Raising Heart sped through the calculations as Nanoha drew to a halt and threw an alarmingly large chunk of her flagging reserves into the spell. She was tired – tired from travelling, tired from the week of teleporting, tired enough that it was sapping at her reflexes and draining her strength. Even the full night's sleep she had got wasn't enough to offset it, though without that she would probably be dead already. She knew she couldn't hold out much longer. If this didn't finish things, she would need to call for Linith or flee.

So it would _have _to finish things. She wouldn't allow it not to. The scarlet knight seemed to have the same thought. She swooped in low, her Device shifting forms as she did. A vicious looking spike slid out from one face of the hammer, even as the other one opened up to reveal a rocket booster. She charged with frightening speed, showing the same casual disregard for evasion or caution that she had for the whole fight, the rocket spitting fire as she hefted it aloft.

Nanoha stood her ground above a blazing circle, as she deployed the reactive barrier that Precia had taught her. It shimmered into view, draining her reserves to manifest as a tessellated shield of woven light. Just in case, she layered another barrier beneath it, twice as strong as the hasty one the girl had shattered earlier. Even if she managed to break the reactive overlayer and survive the blast, this one would stop her cold.

But as the girl drew up, something happened. An explosion partway down her Device, like a shell slamming home in the barrel of an artillery piece. The mana pouring off the thing spiked – Nanoha could _feel _it, even behind her barriers. The sudden surge of power was incredible. The hammer swung down…

And a blast of amber fire engulfed the girl, even as the reactive barrier shattered. Nanoha screamed at the feedback – that blow was far, far too strong. Horrifyingly strong. Whether it was the explosion or the rocket-form, the girl's piercing power had risen exponentially. The second barrier wouldn't be enough. Helplessly, she lifted Raising Heart and pushed herself backwards in a futile attempt to deflect the blow.

The spiked head of hammer, still wreathed in amber fire but undamaged, broke the second barrier with a scream like tearing metal. It struck Raising Heart on one of the two tines of its shooting form, snapping it off cleanly and taking a chunk out of the ruby-red core as it continued down towards Nanoha herself…

Impact.

Pain.

… warmth?

Nanoha forced her eyes open. Someone had snatched her away. Linith? It had to be. They were retreating, at speeds that she hadn't known the cat-familiar was capable of, but she could still see her opponent. There was something hurtling towards her, something huge… it looked like a tree.

It was, in fact, a tree.

The girl wrenched free of the tan binds that had cocooned her, and brought her hammer round in a furious slash, defending against the huge mass at the last second. It struck the falling log with a crack that Nanoha heard even from a distance, splitting it in clean in two.

It was a mistake. Linith was good at trap spells, and that log must have had at least half a dozen on it. An opaque, bubble-shaped barrier surrounded the girl's head the second her hammer hit wood, and a binding ring of the same colour flashed into being around her throat and began to constrict. The two halves separated just enough to pass her by on either side as she flailed briefly.

Then they exploded.

Even that wasn't enough to put her down, Nanoha saw. As the smoke cleared, she remained standing. Her Barrier Jacket was scorched and damaged, far more than it had been by the blast from Nanoha's barrier, but it hadn't been broken. But Linith hadn't stopped there, it seemed, either. Though her vision was blurry, Nanoha could see a swarm of tiny shapes whirling around the beleaguered form, hammering at the knight relentlessly as she brought her hands up towards her neck.

And then there was a wrenching shift, and they were outside the barrier again, still accelerating. Another jolt, almost before the first had faded, and this time Nanoha recognised the distinctive flavour of a teleport spell, taking them far, far away from the girl. Despite the humiliation of her loss, Nanoha had to breathe a sigh of relief at that.

She didn't get to see where they had teleported to, though. Her eyes fluttered closed as they arrived, as the slap-dash anaesthetic spell wore off and raw agony from her hand assaulted her again. Not just her hand, either. Her ribs, her head… it seemed like there wasn't any part of her that didn't hurt, ache or burn.

A spark of magic entered her system, telling it to sleep. Linith again, lowering her onto a bed. Thank goodness.

Fleeing from the pain and the sting of her defeat, Nanoha yielded to the spell gratefully. She was unconscious before her head hit the pillow.

* * *

…


	3. Chapter 2

"… almost like the Breaker, which worries me. I would advise…"

Words floated down to her as consciousness returned slowly. Nanoha rather wished it hadn't, because it brought quite a lot of pain with it, mostly centred on her ribs and hand. The latter felt hot and itchy, like there was something prickling uncomfortably beneath the skin. She tried to move it, only to discover that it was bound in place by something.

"Stop that," said a voice from somewhere above her. Blinking, Nanoha tried to focus, but her vision was still fuzzy from sleep. As she waited for it to clear, she took stock of her position.

She was lying down. On a bed, from the feel of it, propped up by pillows. Her head hurt. Her ribs _really _hurt. Her right arm was stretched out to the side, supported by some sort of binding, and her hand ached and prickled horribly. It alternated between uncomfortably hot and painfully cold, reminding her vaguely of the few times she'd got sick or had fevers when she was younger. Or… oh dear. The way her first meeting with Fate had ended.

"Wh…" she mumbled, uncertain if she was asking 'what', 'where' or 'why'.

A cool hand rested on her forehead, stroking her hair gently. The pain receded into the distance, though the discomfort stayed. More importantly, her vision finally came into focus, resolving to show Linith leaning over her. The older woman looked concerned, motherly and more than a little exasperated.

"I said stay _still_, Nanoha," she repeated, and the girl belatedly realised that she was still tugging on whatever was holding her arm in place. She stopped sheepishly and glanced over at it. And winced. Her hand was nastily swollen, and suspended off the edge of the bed in a ball of tan light that pulsed busily. She remembered the crack as she'd hit the red girl's jaw, and guessed that she'd probably broken a few fingers doing so. From the feel of it, her middle and ring fingers were the worst off. She tentatively tried to flex them, and was rewarded with a fresh stab of pain.

"Nanoha, if you keep doing that, I will paralyse your whole arm until it's healed," stated Linith, narrowing her eyes dangerously. "Stay still and let it heal. I know it's uncomfortable, but as long as you let the spell work, your bones should have knitted together enough to be functional within four days or so. Though you'll still need to be careful for another week after that." She glanced down. "Your ribs, unfortunately, aren't as easy to care for. On the other hand, they're not as badly hurt, either. No broken bones; your Barrier Jacket absorbed most of the impact that shattered it. They are rather severely bruised, though."

She pursed her lips. "All in all, you should be back to normal two weeks from now. And no, I'm not letting you dive back into combat before then."

Nanoha scowled at her mulishly. "If my friends and family are…" Her eyes widened. "Arisa-chan! She…"

Linith covered her lips with a finger, hushing her. "Yes, the knight drained her. She'll recover, though. I checked up on her after I got you here, she's in hospital, but not seriously hurt."

"She's in…" Nanoha's brow creased. "Wait, how long has it been? And… where are we?" She looked around the room, confused. It was plain, with a chest of drawers and a wardrobe against the wall to her left and a desk on the opposite side of the room, facing a window that looked out onto what looked like a park. A couple of pictures hung on the walls – one of which she recognised as a painting of the harbour. "Are we still on Earth?"

"Yes," Linith nodded. "I booked us into a hotel last night, after you'd gone to sleep. After all, I was the one who arranged those things for Fate last time, so I know a little about how your world does things. That's where we are now. We're about twenty minutes' walk from the penthouse you stayed at last time you were here, actually. Though I'm afraid our lodgings aren't quite as luxurious this time. And it's been six hours since we got away." She grimaced. "I haven't had time to send a report back to Precia yet. I was just starting on that… but now that you're awake, I wanted to talk to you about the knight first."

"Knight… the mage! With the hammer! Did she… she…"

"I don't believe she followed us," Linith said gravely. "I… slowed her down, I hope, and then took a rather evasive route here."

"A knight… so she was a Belkan-user, then?" Nanoha asked, her rhetorical question still slightly slurred. "I thought so. And… that was a cartridge system, wasn't it? That sudden boost. I've read about them, but… aren't they like magic batteries? No, the other word, the thingies which aren't quite batteries but also store power." She looked down at her ribs and winced. "It worked, whatever it was. I don't know if I could have stopped it even if I'd known it was coming," she added in a mutter.

"I didn't catch as much of the fight as you did, though I've looked at the logs on Raising Heart – which is here, by the way." Linith pointed to the red jewel on the bedside cabinet to Nanoha's left.

Nanoha looked over at her partner and felt tears come to her eyes. There was an ugly crack running down the centre of Raising Heart's jewel form, and she could see that several chips were missing entirely.

"Raising Heart…" she whispered, her voice catching. "Can… can I hold her?" Linith touched her shoulder gently.

"It's not damaged beyond repair. I'll see what I can do for it after we've contacted Precia." She pressed her lips together. "And she needs to be alerted to this. That knight was AA-rank at least, perhaps more. And that weapon almost reminded me of…" She tailed off, looking pensive before passing the Device to Nanoha..

The girl stared down at her… at her friend, rubbing the thumb of her mobile hand over the crack. It felt like… like someone had deliberately gone out to target her in particular. They'd gone after her mother, after her friend, and they'd damaged Raising Heart. That mysterious girl-knight, who looked to be even younger than her, with her hammer had stolen Arisa's core! A core-stealing knight with a hammer…

The thought sparked Nanoha to recall what she'd heard before waking up properly. And that in turn triggered another memory. "Wait!" she said urgently, holding up her uninjured hand and sitting up straighter. The cat-familiar half turned, from where she had been going over the footage again. "Linith, please, wait! Wait… I remember something about this. A story… Raising Heart? Can you still…"

[I can function, my master,] tolled the gem. Or tried to. The pleasant female voice wobbled a little as it spoke, crackling slightly and making it difficult to make out one or two of the words. Nanoha felt a lump rise into her throat again at the damage her partner had received.

"Raising Heart…" she murmured again, touched by the Device's loyalty. Then she shook herself, remembering what had occurred to her. "Search… about a month ago, for 'Breaker', 'Belkan' and… uh… 'hammer'. I'm sure I remember seeing something like that, I just can't place what it was…"

[13,000 plus hits on internal database, my master. Sorting by order of relevance. First on list; Class 1 Lost Logia: Book of Darkness,] Raising Heart informed her. [Cloud Knights: Blade, Breaker, Healer, Hound.]

Nanoha went very still. "… yes," she said faintly. "Yes, that was it. A Lost Logia… a _Class 1 _Lost Logia? Here?!" She struggled to straighten up further, using both arms to lever herself vertical. "It drained mana, too, I remember reading that! And… and okay, not much else, but I remember it's bad! Really bad! Linith, we have to…"

Linith flicked a hand at her, and a tan bolt shot into Nanoha's right shoulder. Her entire arm promptly went dead, encased in a faintly glowing sheath that held it rock-still, and she crashed over sideways onto the mattress. Thankfully, the covers and the pillows absorbed most of the impact, and her ribs only twinged a little. Nonetheless, Nanoha felt it appropriate to give a muffled "ow" into the pillowcase, and did so.

Before she could get angry – either about being cut off, or about the fact that she could no longer feel her arm – Linith gently rolled her back over. She was giving Nanoha a kind, but stern look, which told the girl that arguing would not be a good idea at this point.

"Nanoha," she said firmly. "I did warn you. Now, hopefully that will convince you not to go charging into things until you're better. And as for the Book of Darkness…" She sighed. "The thought had occurred to me, too. But honestly, I don't think it's very likely at all. Think about it, Nanoha. We're on the edge of TSAB space here. Border raids are common. And there are thousands, millions of Belkan knights out there. Core-ripping technology…" She wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Well, it's distasteful, but it's hardly unheard of. And there's no end of unscrupulous people looking for quick routes to power. But in all the Dimensional Sea, there is only one Book of Darkness. Just one, against the thousands of other possibilities. Raising Heart, please list the next entries."

[Second on list; Sankt Kaiser Wilhelm II, aka 'the Breaker' or 'the Hammer of Waalune'. Third on list; the Fifth Royal Belkan Dragoons, nicknamed 'the Steel Hammers'. Fourth on list; Class 2 Lost Logia: the Lucrezian Hammer. Corpses reanimated by Lost Logia are referred to as 'Breakers' from their anti-Barrier capacities. Fifth on list…]

"That's enough, Raising Heart," Linith said. She smiled patiently, stroking Nanoha's hair out of her eyes and hushing her as she tried to protest. "I know it seems like it fits, sweetheart, and I will definitely mention the possibility to Precia. But in all likelihood, I think we're probably dealing with a Belkan knight – or perhaps a group of them – who are after power for something. They may even be emulating the weapons of the Cloud Knights to boost their reputation. It wouldn't be the first time that a group had tried something like that, not by a long shot."

"She was powerful, though," argued Nanoha, unwilling to give up on her theory so easily. "And that other one, the L-word hammer thing… that's bad too!"

Linith shrugged.

"There are plenty of powerful mages, though I'll grant that they're rarer in backwaters like this one. Still, you're living proof that they still happen. And really, given the numbers, isn't it more likely that it's a group of copycats than the real Book of Darkness? You get quite a few of them. There are even imitations made to try to copy its power to steal power, and none of them are as powerful as the original."

Sullenly, Nanoha conceded the point with a nod. Linith's smile widened. "Well then. Actually, you know, with the core-draining… that girl wasn't TSAB. What she was doing is illegal under their laws; they would try to arrest her if they knew. We could even set one of their sensors to alert them without letting them know we were here, and just let them come and handle it…"

She left the question hanging tentatively in the air. Nanoha's stubborn stare cut it down and trampled on it. Sighing, Linith gave another shrug. "Well, it was worth asking. I'll go and start compiling a message for Precia. You can add your own perspective to it once I'm done. Alright?" She rose from her seat and walked over to the door. Pausing just before leaving the room, she turned back. "Oh, and Nanoha?"

"Uh huh?"

"Don't strain yourself, do you understand? Focus on resting and healing. And call me if you need anything, okay?" Linith smiled warmly. "Then maybe if you're feeling better later on, we can go and visit your family. Okay?" With a twirl of skirts, she disappeared into the adjacent room, leaving Nanoha alone.

The girl waited a few moments to be sure that she'd really left. She didn't have any intention of violating Linith's orders – if nothing else, there wasn't much she could do with a paralysed arm, save perhaps pick at the spell and try to work out how it functioned.

But despite the familiar's logic and reassurances, Nanoha still had a seed of doubt about their opponents. And there was one thing she could do that was no strain at all. After all, Linith hadn't told her not to do _that_.

"Raising Heart?" she asked quietly. "If you can still work, where's the nearest server in TSAB space? Not a military one, just one that'd let me find out more."

The Jewel pulsed for a moment before replying. [Nearest major server located thirty light-minutes away, master. I am functional.]

Nanoha nodded, shifting in bed to sit up further. She awkwardly propped herself up with a pillow so that she didn't slide back down again. "Okay. Look up everything you can about the Book of Darkness, please. Hide the request, too. Curve the signal so they can't straight-line it back to the source. I don't think anyone would notice one little ping on a major server, but I don't want Linith any more mad at me for being careless."

[Alright, my master. Preparing query and defensive protocols.]

"Thank you." Nanoha smiled. "Now, while we're waiting for that to be ready… dictation mode, please. Start a message to Fate, Vesta and Arf. Message begins: Hi everyone. I'm afraid there's been a small incident…"

* * *

…

* * *

Elsewhere in the city, a blonde woman sat in the living room of a pleasant two-storey house. She was nestled comfortably in an armchair; her long skirt spread neatly and her head bent low over a small cylinder which she held encased in a soft green glow between her hands. The magic filtered slowly into the tiny casing, settling into the high-density storage medium to wait until it was released again.

A faint bump came from upstairs. The woman's ears twitched at the sound, though she paid it little conscious attention. It was probably her associate, though the other woman was normally more graceful than that.

The call that followed, however, was not ignored.

_'Shamal? The lights are on. Is the mistress awake?'_

Frowning, the blonde glanced up from her work for a second. _'Vita?' _she asked distractedly. _'I thought you were still out. Hold on…' _The last few drops of magic she was feeding into the cartridge trickled in to fill it to its capacity, and she spun her finger around it, sealing the capsule. That done, she settled it on the table beside the five she had already finished with a faint clink, and stretched. _'Alright, I'm done. And no, Hayate went to bed hours ago. Zafira is with her.' _She looked up, frowning. _'Wait, are you on the roof again?'_ she asked, a little wearily.

_'Yes. You need to come up. I need healing, and… hmm. Actually…' _Shamal felt the faint echo-shift that signalled Vita expanding her telepathy to address multiple people, _'Signum, Zafira, you should come up here too. We may have a problem.'_

Intrigued, Shamal rose, and made her way upstairs. She met Signum on the landing as the pink-haired knight came out of her own room, ponytail swishing behind her. From the light shirt and trousers she was wearing, Shamal guessed that she'd been doing practicing sword forms in the limited space she had. She crooked an eyebrow at her fellow knight, glancing upwards in a silent question. Signum just shrugged.

_'Zafira?' _she sent, looking over at the door to their mistress's room. _'Are you coming?'_

_'I'll stay down here with Hayate,' _came the reply from the last member of their quartet. _'I've opened the window a little, I should be able to hear you just fine from down here. Keep your voices down so you don't wake her, though.'_

Following Signum up to the roof, Shamal climbed up onto the slates, stumbling slightly as her skirt caught on the top of the ladder. "Alright then, let's have a look at… you… oh. Oh my." She raised a hand to her mouth, surprised.

Signum's eyebrows had risen at the sight of Vita's state, too, before narrowing into a frown of disapproval. The smaller knight's jaw was swollen and hung open slightly, clearly broken. A ring of livid bruises lined her throat, and her Knight's Garb was scorched, singed and cracked in several places. Even Graf Eisen was soot-stained. She held the simulacra-copy of the Book she had taken with her on her hunt, but it held none of the crackling power that marked a successful night's work.

She also looked nothing short of _furious_.

_'Don't. Start.' _she growled. _'I know already. I was careless. But it wasn't an ordinary target. We have a problem.' _She glanced at Shamal, her expression fading slightly into embarrassment, and not a little discomfort. _'Hayate… probably shouldn't see this. And I wanted to get the healing done as fast as possible, so I didn't risk mucking things up for you with a clumsy try. Can you… ah…'_

"Yes, yes, of course." Shamal shuffled closer, and applied a green-glowing hand to Vita's jaw. The sharp crack of resetting bone echoed nastily across the rooftop, and Vita winced.

_'Ow,' _she commented dryly.

But Signum was unmoved by the remark, already focused on other things. "You said you were going after a weak signal," she mused. "What put you off-guard enough for this to happen?"

Vita's eyes were narrowed as Shamal tended brusquely to her jaw and throat, the older woman holding her head still as she worked. _'Someone interfered. Probably an offworlder. If nothing else, the Device she was using was cutting-edge – a newer model than anything we saw even __last _time we were active, and… Graf Eisen, replay footage.' The hammer pulsed, and a window opened above it, displaying the footage of the hunt and subsequent fight from Vita's point of view.

Shamal watched out of a corner of her eye as she did what she could to reduce the swelling and smooth over the bruises. Even with the resilience of a mana construct and what healing she could provide, the damage to Vita's structure wouldn't be possible to conceal completely. There just wasn't time for it all to heal naturally. She focused on the neck first – if needs be, they could always pass a swollen jaw off as the result of a misaimed croquet mallet. Strangulation would be harder to explain away. It wasn't a full break, which was fortunate, just a nasty dislocation and a hairline fracture.

She sighed. No doubt she would be the one making excuses to Hayate again. She never enjoyed lying to the girl about what they were doing – none of them did, but it fell on her the most. But it was for their master's own good, in the end. If she knew what they were doing, she would forbid them from continuing. And the results of _that _were unthinkable.

_'You're right about the Device,' _commented Zafira from below. _'That looks like… hmm. Pause it?'_

The image obligingly froze. Shamal could hear the shift in tone to interest and analysis, and hid a smile. _'Yes,' _he continued, _'looking at it... let me see. Vita, if I could access the screen?' _The frozen image centred on the attacker's staff shrank, and a series of other models appeared beside it. Zafira rumbled quietly, scrolling through them remotely. _'Hmm. It looks like a progression of the Sterrina series. Military, and not standard issue. Possibly some kind of specialist, though I couldn't make a guess as to what. Well… bombardment or sealing, perhaps, from the head flange shape. Almost certainly TSAB, though.'_

"So this… girl, from her figure, she did this?" Signum asked. Vita shook her head, wincing again as the movement jarred her jaw. Shamal frowned at her disapprovingly and started work on the dislocation.

_'Uh… sorry Shamal,' _Vita apologised, and looked back at Signum. _'No,' _she clarified, _'it wasn't the girl who did this. She had an ally. Keep watching.'_

Signum's face remained impassive as the brief tussle ran its course. Her eyes narrowed slightly as the girl's face was revealed, but she made no sound until the sudden, jarring explosion of tan light blotted out the screen and it dissolved into frenzied movement and chaos for a few moments, resolving only after the girl had disappeared.

"Hmm," she said in a tone which Vita knew from experience meant her mind was whirring through possibilities. "What was it? That spell at the end."

_'Trap, I think. You saw the thing that came at me? It was… I think it was most of a tree, with half a dozen trap spells layered on it. And they slapped a few binds on me, too. Not just to hold me still, either. That choke bind they used, the one that did this…'_she gestured at her mostly-healed throat, and Shamal firmly pushed her hand back down out of the way again. Undeterred, Vita continued, _'if I'd been human, that would have broken my neck. They went straight to lethal, no warning shots or anything. By the time I'd recovered, they were gone. I don't think they're TSAB, whoever they are.'_

"I agree," Signum nodded. "She was wearing no uniform, she didn't announce herself or try to arrest you and her ally went straight to lethal. Odd. A TSAB Device, but a completely different methodology… go back to the girl's face again? It seemed familiar somehow."

The image rewound, and expanded again to show the face of a young girl, screwed up in pain. The shattered remains of a full-face helmet were dissipating from around her head, allowing her hair to escape in wispy strands.

The three of them stared at it blankly for a moment. Shamal slowly raised a finger. "She does look… hmm. You're right, I've seen her before. Where, though…" She pursed her lips, thinking hard. "Zafira? Any ideas?"

_'Can't say she rings any bells,' _came the low voice from below. _'You spend more time out and about than I do, though. Perhaps she has relatives in this region? That might explain why she was here.'_

"Relatives… hah," Signum snapped her fingers suddenly, drawing two pairs of eyes to her. Below them, a canine head turned to look at the ceiling in curiosity. "That's it. I know what she reminds me of," she continued. "The woman from two weeks ago. The one who tried to fight back." Her eyes clouded slightly. "An _odd _fighting style, too. It reminded me of… edge people over the years. Old styles. The bastardised ones from worlds which had encountered a few Belkan spells, but not got the underlying principles. Used with only partial understanding, but with natural talent. The pseudo-formalised styles of Venafira and Irr Naluim and their war-priests…" she shook her head, aware that she had drifted away from the topic, and dismissed the thought. "Anyway. This girl looks very similar. A daughter, perhaps?" She frowned. "But using a TSAB Device and style… Vita, you said this girl was powerful? How powerful?"

Shamal released the young redhead, who considered the question, rubbing her jaw gingerly. "Pretty strong," Vita eventually decided, speaking softly with a faint rasp. "Lots of mana to work with, certainly. I made fairly short work of her once I caught up, but… I'd say AA-rank? Maybe a little higher. It was hard to tell, the fight didn't last long. And her style was very Mid; she'd have been able to keep range much better had we not been in such a small barrier."

A cool night breeze stirred the long pink ponytail as Signum nodded. "The mother was magically powerful as well; four and a half pages. Not much evidence, but it lends a little support to the possibility. Assuming she's even local."

"She did mention that my target was her friend," Vita pointed out. "She seemed angry about it, certainly." She snorted angrily. "Can't imagine why. The girl was only worth one measly line. All that effort for practically nothing, it's ridiculous."

"Ah, I'm sure you'll have better luck next time, Vita," Shamal lightly teased, smiling. "But what does this leave us with? A young girl, magically powerful, possible local family… might this be connected to whatever happened before we were summoned? Hayate-chan did say that there were two young mages during that business at the hospital…"

_'_Something _certainly happened around that time,' _Zafira agreed cautiously. _' The quake, if nothing else. But I don't think we can draw any links to this, not without a lot more evidence. I'll look into the news from around that time and see if I can pin down anything more concrete. Until then, Signum? How shall we respond?'_

Not for nothing was Signum the Wolkenritter's general. She breathed out slowly, considering. "She'll almost certainly try to interfere again," she thought aloud. "Either for moral reasons or revenge, I can't see anyone willing to attack like that just giving up after one fight. More so if she knows our history." Her hand strayed to her hip, feeling instinctively for the hilt of a sword that wasn't there. "With the level of skill she displayed against Vita, I doubt she poses a significant threat at the moment. Her ally, on the other hand…"

She leaned back and stared up at the night sky reflectively. "Yes," she decided. "We should probably remove her from the playing field, one way or another. An intensive draining would probably keep her in hospital until everything is over, one way or another. And pay her back in part for trying to kill one of our number." She glanced at Shamal out of the corner of her eye. "Just be sure not to kill her. We may be violating the spirit of her orders, but we will not violate the letter."

* * *

…

* * *

The door to the Takamachi household looked just the same as she remembered. The damage from that night so long ago when she had fled had been patched up, the holes in the wall filled and the window fixed. She'd thought that it would seem different, that the months she'd spent away would have changed it, or her, or both, to the point where it would seem strange or odd or unfamiliar. But it didn't. Nostalgia flooded her as she walked up the familiar path, like a well-fitted glove slipping comfortably back onto her hand.

And the porch light was on.

Somehow, that was the thing that hit home the strongest. Whenever Shiro or Kyouya – or later Miyuki, as she'd grown up – had been out late at work or with friends, Nanoha's parents would always leave the light on until they got back, to welcome them in when they returned. The few times she'd been the last to come home, coming back late from evening birthday parties or after-school clubs or projects, it had been there for her, too.

And it was there for her now.

Had it been shining there every night since she'd left, waiting for her to come home? The thought made a lump rise in Nanoha's throat, and her eyes grew watery. Linith's hand rested on her shoulder in gentle support, and her shaky breathing steadied out again. She was determined not to cry. She had things to talk about, months to catch up on, experiences to share. She definitely would not break down crying!

Taking a deep breath, she walked up to the door and knocked. And waited.

After a pause, it became evident that the door wasn't going to be answered. She looked questioningly at Linith, and though she couldn't see them under the familiar's illusionary disguise, she knew that the sensitive feline ears were twitching, listening for sounds from within. After a moment's silent concentration, Linith shook her head.

"Nobody's home," she shrugged. "Not even a pet. Is there a spare key anywhere?"

"Um… yeah, if they haven't moved it." Nanoha frowned as she carefully felt under the flowerpots on the windowsill. Her questing fingers soon found the small, hard shape of the key attached to the underside of one of the heavier ones, and she pulled it out triumphantly. "Here we go. Come on, they shouldn't mind us going in, I hope."

Opening the door with just her left hand was tricky, but she managed it. Inside, the hall was dark, only dimly lit by the sodium glow of the streetlamps from outside filtering in through the windows. Nanoha's hand instinctively went to the light-switch, before halting uncertainly. How would her family react to arriving home and finding the lights on, with what to them would be a stranger in their house? Should she drop the illusionary disguise, or keep it up and just explain things to them instead?

… she wanted her family to see the real her, not a fake face. And it _was _probably safe to unmask here. Probably.

Still, there was no need to alarm them as they arrived. "We should leave the lights off," she said out loud, for Linith's benefit. "Papa will be suspicious if they arrive back and the lights are on, and… I don't want my reunion to go like that."

"Of course, sweetheart," Linith agreed. "Do you have any idea when they'll be back? Or where they are?" Nanoha shook her head, and Linith hummed reflectively. "Well then, why don't you show me around?" she suggested. "I know Fate has visited here once, but I've never seen your family home before. I must say, it's rather pretty."

"Ah! Yes! Okay, we should start with the kitchen, then. That's where the calendar is, it might say where they are." A smile formed on her face as Nanoha led the way down the corridor, the illusion dissolving from around her as she spoke.

"Okay, this bit here is the family room, but I'll show you that a bit later. And don't look at me like that, we're safe in here, and I want to see my family looking like me. Now, the kitchen is through… here." Conjuring a ball of pink light to guide her way Nanoha pushed the door open, slightly apprehensive of what she might find. Would anything have changed?

It hadn't. She let the ball of light float up to hang over her shoulder, as she couldn't hold it and still have a free hand simultaneously. Bathed in the pink light, the kitchen was just as she remembered it – so very vividly – that last time she'd seen it, coming in to talk to her mother before Fate had arrived on that rain-soaked night. The surfaces were more cluttered than usual – Momoko's absence taking its toll on the family's energy. But the dishwasher was running quietly, she noted, so her family couldn't have been gone for too long. She sniffed tentatively, and a fragile smile blossomed as she caught the mingled scents of the herbs that her mother grew in pots next to the windows. Vesta would like it in here, she thought. So many interesting smells. And food, too. The thought made her giggle slightly, then sniff. It was surprisingly lonely without the crazy little furball rubbing against her ankles or perching on her shoulder, chattering away.

But despite the painful swell of familiarity, homesickness and loneliness, she wasn't here to reminisce. "Th… the calendar is over here," she told Linith, stuttering a little over the lump that was still lodged in her throat. "Hang on, I'll just…"

Glancing over the calendar hanging from the fridge door, she found the usual miscellaneous notes about appointments, outings and bookings, along with the mess of notes, receipts and letters paperclipped to the sides. But what caught her attention was the row of crossed out days leading up to the current one, which was circled several times. Frowning, she ran her finger back to the day it started and asked Raising Heart to do a quick conversion to confirm what she already suspected. It was the day just before she had scryed on her mother and found her in hospital.

"Linith?" she called. The cat, who had been sniffing interestedly at what Nanoha thought was probably either the mint or the mitsuba. "Come see this. I…" she bit her lip. "I think today _might _be when mama gets out of hospital."

Linith blinked, examined the calendar, and smiled in confusion. "Well isn't that a good thing?" she asked. "They might even be going to pick her up now!"

"But…" Nanoha was looking down now, scuffing her foot on the ground and making a detailed examination of the kitchen floor. "I'm not sure what I'll… I haven't seen them in so long, and…"

Linith knelt down and hugged her, purring reassuringly. Nanoha relaxed – it was impossible not to, in a Linith-hug. She wasn't sure how the human-form's vocal chords made that sound, but it reminded her of Vesta, and was wonderfully comforting.

"You'll be fine," promised Linith. "The moment they see you, they'll all hug you until you nearly burst, and shower you with questions about what you've been up to and how much you've learnt. Which reminds me. I don't want you jarring that hand when they do." She frowned slightly, standing up, and clicked her fingers. The faint tan shimmering holding Nanoha's hand still flared briefly, extending up her arm and covering her arm up to the elbow in what looked like a little like a cast made of mana. She tested it gingerly, and found it completely immobile.

"None of that," scolded Linith, poking her in the elbow. The arm went dead below the joint, and Nanoha vaguely wondered if that had been magic or some kind of secret cat pressure point. Vesta could certainly send her legs to sleep when she curled up on them. Maybe it was a special feline skill? She'd have to find out how it was done.

"Well… um…" She was smiling shyly though, the moment of uncertainty broken by Linith's warmth. "I should… keep looking. For stuff. And showing you around, I still haven't…"

She trailed off, because she had just noticed what was hanging on the other side of the fridge door. In a faint daze, she reached out and hooked a finger through the pink ribbon, lifting it off the hook and examining the card-like shape hanging from it. It was clear glass, or plastic, and about the same size as the card-Devices she'd seen schoolmates use back on Schzenais.

But it wasn't a Device.

It was a pressed flower.

Her eyes suddenly felt very watery, and her vision was all blurred all of a sudden. Which wasn't crying, because she'd promised herself very definitely that she wasn't going to cry and that she was going to be grown-up and mature about things, and not burst into tears. She was just feeling… wobbly, for a moment, and had to sit down. That was all.

"Nanoha? Nanoha, what's that you've got there, you're holding it hard enough that your hand is… oh. Oh dear."

She vaguely felt Linith pull up a chair and sit down beside her, folding her into another hug and stroking her hair gently. She didn't say anything, just offering silent support while Nanoha stared at the little flower. The one she had given to her mother, the last time she'd met her in person.

"They miss me too, don't they?" she mumbled in a small voice, croaking. "As much as I miss them. I must've been making them worry so much…" She had known intellectually that her family would be thinking of her as much as she thought of them, but it hadn't really hit home until she saw it first-hand. The porch light; left on night after night for a wayward daughter whose location they didn't know. The forlorn little flower; pressed and beribboned and left hanging where Momoko would see it every day.

Suddenly, Nanoha struggled out of Linith's embrace, and dashed for the stairs. She had to see her room, had to see what it was like. If they had…

… well, she wasn't sure what she was expecting. Or hoping for. Or dreading. She fumbled the door open, clumsy with her left hand, and closed her eyes as she stepped in, drawing breath sharply. She could hear Linith running up the stairs behind her, but ignored the sound in favour of slowly opening her eyes and inspecting the room.

The jolt of familiarity was barely noticeable this time; she was already starting to sink back into the surroundings she knew so well. The bed was immaculately made, the room clean and tidy. There was a little prayer strip on her desk, along with a few talismans. Nanoha shied away from looking too closely at them. She knew that if she read what was written on those prayers, any hope of not crying would go out the window.

There was a thin layer of dust on the furniture. Not thick enough for prolonged neglect, just the light settling that built up over a few days. She ignored it, and slumped down on the bed, awkwardly pulling a pillow down to hug it as best she could with one arm. She breathed in the smell of her room, buried her head in the pillows, and trembled with the force of the feelings rebounding around inside her. Linith hovered in the doorway as her charge fought to clamp a lid down on her emotions, uncertain of how to help. After a few seconds, Nanoha heard a change in the texture of the room, and the soft pad of feline footsteps proceeded across the floor and up onto the bed. A warm, furry shape curled up on the pillow she was hugging, and licked her good hand a couple of times.

They were still lying there fifteen minutes later, when the sound of a car engine broke the quiet sounds of the evening as it pulled up outside.

The sound woke Nanoha where she lay in a half-doze. She felt light, unconnected, as if she was living in a dream. Her eyes were still dry – she hadn't broken down – but now that the emotional storm had passed, she felt curiously numb for the moment, like the land after a storm had passed.

Downstairs, the key scrabbled in the lock, and Nanoha's stomach somehow contrived to instantly wind itself into a knot. Perhaps the eye of a hurricane was a better analogy, she corrected herself, and glanced at Linith. The cat looked back patiently, neither urging her onwards nor holding her back. Linith was evidently content to let her go at her own pace.

Shiro and Kyouya were conferring in low voices in the sitting room as she crept down the stairs. Despite her attempts to be quiet, they still heard her – she had never managed to get away with that before, and she hadn't really expected to now. Both men snapped around, tensing at the faint creak from the step under her foot until they saw the slight silhouette on the staircase that had caused it.

"Papa?" Nanoha whispered. "Kyouya? Miyuki?"

Her sister emerged from the kitchen, the tail end of a comment tossed over her shoulder trailing off as she saw her brother and father staring transfixed at the stairs. She turned to see what they were looking at, and froze.

"Mum!" she said urgently. Her tone of voice conveyed enough that nothing more was necessary. From further inside the kitchen there was a clang of something being dropped, and through the door in a flurry of skirts came…

Nanoha wasn't sure whether it was her or Momoko who let out the sob as they saw each other. It was her that reached out though, prompting another wordless sound from the older woman. Belatedly, she realised that she was still holding the pressed flower, the pink ribbon looped twice around her wrist. She felt her lip tremble as she looked from her family to it, then back to them. Back to Momoko.

"… mama," she half-said, half-sobbed. And lunging forwards to bury her face in her mother's chest, she finally burst into tears.

* * *

…

* * *

She was bored almost to tears.

A glass of sugar-frosted fruit juice sitting before her, Flotilla Admiral Lindy Harlaown repressed a sigh and stared out the window. Hands folded in her lap, she tried not to make it obvious that she was staring over the ear of the guest sitting opposite to her, staring out over to the shallow blue-green sea to the east. The bleak grey stone of the Markvalv, now overgrown with greenery, rose out of the water, stretching between coral islands and across tidal marshes across over to the island of Niorackal.

_'When's my next meeting?' _she thought at her device.

[Your next appointment is a video conference with Captain Abuego, in one hour and thirty-one minutes] the system informed her.

There were small birds outside her window, their bright orange plumage shining in the sun. Carefully, she watched as they plucked the bitter oranges off the tree she was growing on her balcony, completing ignoring the scare-ward which was up. _'Oh well,' _she thought. _'Prioritise my workflow for me, and alert me if anything big comes in. Or small.'_

[Yes, ma'am.]

She shook her head, and focused on the plate of spiced sweetrice the dark-haired woman next to her was offering. "I really shouldn't," she told the local politician, and winced. "I'm trying to keep to a diet, and this lunch is already pushing it. And if I have desert like that, I can't allow myself sugar in my tea."

"Oh, fair enough," the other woman said, ladling some out for herself. "Delion?"

"Oh, don't mind if I do," said the older man in the robe daubed with jade beads, reaching over to take it.

It was another lunch with various dignities from Suionetheod and other worlds close to the sector capital. As as the ranking TSAB official, her presence was required, and considering that the man opposite to her was the speaker of the Lanselik Parliament, it would have been considered a snub to pass it off to some lesser officer. And then it descended into a mix of local politics which she was forced to care about, because the Vodonyad Treaty Organisation couldn't let the Lanselik League appear to be the senior party at the dinner and then the Watselic League had insisted that they receive extra seats and then the ambassador from Oneriod complained that Suionetheodi nations were dominating the list and…

It wasn't even like it was a formal dinner, Lindy thought with more than a hint of self-pity. But what it was for all of them was a chance to be shown to be consulting with the senior TSAB admiral – a joke in itself considering she was one of the most junior district-level naval officers there was – and so reinforce their own positions in their local politics. The Suionetheodi nationals all wanted to show their closeness to the Bureau, the lesser worlds wanted to make it clear that they too had a voice and they weren't just sending people off to the parliament ten light-hours from here for no gain, and she…

… well, she wanted lunch because this morning had been more than a little stressful. She normally actually quite enjoyed these lunches, when the mess of the seating arrangements was being dealt with by someone else. It was nice to keep up with people, and she was on speaking terms – at least – with most of the people in the room. But right now, she just wanted to get back to her desk, because she'd lost a ship.

Not lost-lost… at least, she didn't think so. The _Ravi _just hadn't checked in on the next stop on its resupply cycle on the bases on the far reaches of her district. The nearest ship which could help find it was four days out, and that was another supply ship; hardly something she wanted to send into a situation she knew nothing about.

As it stood, she was just waiting for the check-in call to make its way from the facility on Pihroea which had been its last designated call-in point. She wanted a check on Dimensional Space conditions and whether there had been any unexpected navigational hazards. Their last check-in, four days ago, had reported several flux events – nothing out of the usual – but she'd prefer to think that the ship might just have had to divert or even anchor down for a few days in orbit around an empty dimension than anything worse had happened.

"So, Admiral Harlaown," the woman next to her said. "What do you think of the current situation in Feeneshk, then?"

"I'm sorry," Lindy said, with a smile to soften the non-answer, "but I really couldn't comment on that." She reached forwards, sipping her juice. "Even if I wanted to, it's in the courts at the moment. Naturally, I'd really hope both sides could work it out and remain friends. As long as both sides remain in compliance with the terms of their membership charters, however, the Navy has no official position save that we call for both sides to avoid escalating matters. And…" at that moment something chimed in her ear. "I'm sorry, but I have a call," she apologised, accepting the incoming link.

_'Admiral. This is Captain Bhatti… I'm the senior officer on monitoring at the moment. We have the response from Pihroea.'_

_'Oh, good,' _Lindy thought back. _'Clear? Have they heard anything from the _Ravi_ at their end?'_

_'Could you please report to Monitoring, ma'am? I think we have a problem.'_

Lindy made her apologies as hastily as she could without seeming to be worried, "Oh, it's nothing; just an unexpected message which I have to deal with in person which wants a prompt response," and rose, making her way back to the main office compound. They were very much a product of the local architectural style; domes and fluted columns and floating holograms, though there had been extensive modification to bring them up to the standards of a sector office. Kicking off from the ground, the green-haired woman felt the invisible mesh of wards and authorisation checks like cobwebs against her skin as she ascended, coming down on the roof.

It was faster than waiting for the lifts, she justified to herself. Then it was in through the security gates, past the higher security checks, and down into the windowless monitoring room, in the heart of the building.

"Ma'am. Something's up," the duty officer said, not even looking up from his screen. "We got a navigation response back, but… the anti-replay counter is a duplicate. They're either being flagrantly lazy with their communications, or someone's cloned the message. I think it's the latter."

"Oh dear," Lindy said, dreading what was about to come. "Why?"

The man swallowed. "All three of the auxiliary responses are showing the dead man's handle has been triggered, but the main message isn't showing. Look here; DST-SM, RMS-SM, GOS-SM; deadman-red, but… all green on the main. Ma'am… the auxiliaries are isolated from the main system, in physically separate locations from each other and from the main system. Scrying and teleport interdictions are are up according to the message, so I haven't been able to verify the status of the facility. And… uh, well, I checked this up in the handbook, and this means we have to treat that facility as if it's compromised until the entire site has been secured and specialists have verified system security. And the system here has raised multiple automatic alarms and that means this message is being passed to neighbouring districts and being sent to Fleet Command."

"They won't be hearing for ten hours," Admiral Harlaown said, mind already whirring. "Another ten, for the response. I want to have an answer by the time it gets there." She glared at the chart showing the chain of worlds which terminated in Pihroea.

No, it didn't terminate, she thought, struck by a sudden cold chill. That was just the last world marked as a TSAB-controlled one along that chain. Four worlds along the same chain was Unadministered World 97. The place which had caused so much trouble six months ago. Precia Testarossa might have been dead – and more than dead, unmade in the fathomless depths of antimagic under the dimensional sea – but others would have felt the waves from the quake she triggered. Others would have come looking, especially when rumour inevitably escaped about the untouched Alhazredian ruin of the Garden of Time. The young ferr… archeologist had said the Garden was 'literally priceless', but Lindy didn't underestimate the human capacity to put a price on things and then try to sell them.

And Pihroea was the nearest Administered World with a TSAB presence, monitoring equivalent and a spaceport to allow more things to be shipped in easily. If someone wanted to blind the TSAB to events in that region, Pihroea would have to be neutralised.

"Get a connection to Chr… to Enforcer Harlaown," she said, trying to keep her breathing under control. "Tell him to find a squad of A-rankers – minimum – and to jump to… is there a secure rally point on Pihorea away from that facility? If not, jump one world away and investigate. Carefully, but I'd like answers before Mid calls!"

* * *

…

* * *

"Hush now, shh…"

The tangle of movement, embraces, crying and laughter lasted for a while, and subsided slowly. As Nanoha's tears and shrieks of joy began to run dry, her sobs became hiccups and sniffs, and she was able to take stock of her position again. She had migrated somehow to the sofas in the family room, where she was sitting on Momoko's lap with her family gathered around her. Warm arms encircled her, hugging her every bit as tight as she was hugging her mother. They weren't the only pair; someone was hugging her from the side as well. Blinking tears out of her eyes, Nanoha turned to find Miyuki grinning at her from similarly watery eyes.

"Hey, little sis," she said with remarkable composure. A breath of laughter escaped her as she looked over the younger girl. "Long time no see." She giggled again, the sound choking off into a quiet sob as the absurdity of the greeting hit her.

Nanoha could only nod, not trusting herself to speak. She looked to her right and found Shiro patiently waiting – she was fairly sure he had picked her up and spun her round at some point while she was crying, but couldn't be certain. She had been too busy crying to see.

"Papa," she whispered hoarsely, adding "Kyouya…" as her older brother leaned in to ruffle her hair affectionately and kiss her on the forehead. "I… I missed you." She blinked rapidly, clumsily wiping her eyes dry with the heel of her good hand. Shiro's eyes flickered downward slightly, and his smile dimmed. Only for a second, though. He tried to frown, but the expression was eclipsed by the pride and joy of seeing her again, shining out of his expression like a lantern.

"I'm glad to see you too, love," he said. His eyebrows drew together in an attempt at disapproval, though he was still unable to banish the happiness from his face entirely. "I'm less glad, though, to see that you've hurt yourself." He nodded down at the faint tan light wreathing Nanoha's immobile arm. "What happened?"

"Huh? Oh. Um." Nanoha blushed slightly. "Yeah. I, uh… hit someone. Really hard. That… didn't… go so well. Um. But I think I sort of broke her jaw, so… uh… fair's fair? And she was attacking… Arisa!" She looked up suddenly, concerned. "I had to leave her there when I got driven off… is she okay?" She bit her lip, worrying. Arisa had looked so frail, lying there under the hammer with the glowing ball of her Linker Core above her chest. Absorbed in sending a message back to the others about her suspicions and coming back home, it had slipped her mind, but now concern flooded through her. Had she been in time?

"Hush, sweetheart. She's fine," Momoko reassured her. "I popped in to see her before your father arrived to pick me up, and she was more or less awake. Not particularly happy, and feeling terrible, but the doctors said she would make a full recovery. If I'm anything to go by, she should be mostly up and about within a week or so."

Nanoha eyed her mother sceptically. The black eye had faded to light bruising, though Nanoha could still see burn marks on her hands and forearms. She seemed to be leaning slightly on Nanoha as well, and looked tired. And for all that she was hugging Nanoha, she was treating her lower chest a little gingerly, too.

Her scrutiny didn't go unnoticed, and Momoko kissed her on the forehead. "I'm fine, dear," she reassured again. "A little banged up still, but fine. Arisa told me what she remembered, when we got a free moment to talk. She seems to think that the girl – she called her a 'red devil-girl' – was that organisation from, ah… last time. The TSAB? I told her I didn't think so, but I suppose you would know better than me."

Nanoha thought about it briefly, then shook her head firmly. "No," she said, confidence born of experience backing her up, "no, it's definitely not them. They wouldn't do something like this, and even if they did, they'd operate in a completely different way. I have… some ideas on who it might be, but I doubt the TSAB have been back here since… um…" her head dropped slightly as she finished, "since I had to leave."

"But now you're home." Momoko hugged her again and chuckled. "And whatever happened in the end there – the woman who came to see us said something about a quake? We felt it here. It has lots of scientists very excited, for some reason. Something about the effects going faster than light or being felt by sensor stations all over the world at exactly the same time – there's been a lot of talk about it." She grinned conspiratorially. "To tell the truth, it's been rather fun being the only one who knows what happened. Though Arisa and Suzuka-chan say you warned them off telling anyone about magic, so we've kept quiet about it. But if we felt the effects here, it must have been terrible close-by, and when the woman told us you hadn't…"

She tailed off for a few seconds, paling. Looking around, Nanoha could see a shadow pass across the expressions of her whole family for a moment at the memory. After a moment, Momoko mustered up a brave smile and continued. "Well, even if we hoped that she was wrong, it was a big relief to get your letter the next day. You weren't hurt by it?"

Nanoha hugged her again in remorse, before detaching reluctantly to hug the others in turn. "We were okay," she replied. "I had to take some horrible-tasting medicine to make sure the mana concentration didn't have any side effects, but that was more just to be sure. And we teleported out before the Garden actually collapsed, so we weren't really near the blast."

"Very clever." Shiro knelt down to look at her hand, while Miyuki cooed over Nanoha's new clothes. She gave her sister a quick explanation of Jackets while he examined the magical cast and carefully felt her fingers – making her glad that her arm was numb. When he was done, he let her go and nodded his satisfaction. "I don't know what that spell is doing, but it seems to be healing quickly," he concluded. "And other than breaking your fingers hitting people – which we need to talk about – have you been well?"

"Uh huh! I've been studying hard at school – Dimensional Space school, but I've been trying my best there and learning a lot. And practicing my magic, though Fate-chan is still better than me by a bit. Precia-san has been teaching me some things to make up for it, though, and she's a lot happier now that Alicia-chan is better. And… and I scry to see you every fortnight, and think of you every day. That's how I knew mama was hurt, I saw her in the hospital." She hugged Momoko again, pressing the flower into her hands. "You kept it," she mumbled, unable to contain a smile.

"Silly," her mother whispered back, nuzzling her hair. She tucked it into a pocket, patting it securely. "Of course I kept it. I look at it every day and think of you, out there on another world." She frowned. "Speaking of which… did you come here alone, Nanoha?"

The girl blinked in surprise, remembering her companion. "Oh! No, I… um… Linith? Linith!"

'Mreow,' Linith replied, trotting up in her cat for from where she had been sitting patiently near the stairs. She paused to allow the assembled Takamachis to take her in, and transformed. A brief tan glow overtook her form, and she grew sharply, rising up to human height as her shape changed fluidly. Then the light faded, leaving the maternal features that Nanoha had come to know well over the last half-year.

She curtsied neatly. "Hello Takamachi-san," she greeted Momoko and Shiro politely. "My name is Linith, I am Precia's familiar. I'm pleased to meet you, we've all heard a great deal about you from Nanoha, and we're very grateful to her for helping us."

Nanoha's parents appraised her, charmed by the polite introduction, though slightly confused at the way she had made it. Nanoha winced slightly. The translation pack for Japanese was fairly basic, and she knew Raising Heart and Bardiche had been expanding theirs from listening to her. She hadn't realised Linith had been doing the same. A grown woman using the speech inflections of a nine-year old sounded… odd.

Still, her family seemed to understand, and Linith was soon engaged in a lively dialogue with Shiro over what had happened while she and Nanoha had been travelling, with Kyouya and Miyuki interjecting here and there. Nanoha watched as they discussed the possibilities, and frowned when Linith brought up her theory that it was a rogue group of mages.

"Mama," she whispered quietly. "I think there's something I need to tell you."

Momoko nodded slowly, giving her a searching look. "Yes," she replied cautiously, weighing her words. "And I think the same goes for me."

* * *

…

* * *

With a hum, the broadcast relay came to life, and everyone in the impromptu camp looked up at the sudden noise. The sun – larger than that of humanity's homelands – hung heavy on one horizon, casting long shadows across the parched land.

"Okay, that's online," the squad's technical expert said, adjusting something on the glowing control window before her. She brushed a silver lock away from her eyes, leaning over the system. "We… yes, the calibration signal from the transmitter on Runcorn is coming through. I need to do narrow-band set up, and then ping it." She sucked in air through her teeth. "Call it fifteen minutes for set-up, and then it'll be eight in and eight out to check that Runcorn can get us. Forty minutes, say, before confirmation that transmission is working." She clicked her tongue. "While I get this set up, make sure you've all designated AAA-1 as your primary recording node, 'kay?"

"I hate working without ship back-up," a man with dirty blond hair grumbled. Cross-legged on the ground, his green-grey-brown Barrier Jacket blending into the dry earth, he was fiddled with one of the tents, trying to find out why the electrofabric wasn't working. "We are really at the back-end of nowhere out here. Hours away from any support, no teleport booster, no ship, no retreat, and everything feels like it's going to go Gee Oh Tee shaped." He sighed. "I'd rather be home with my boyfriend."

"I'd rather be home with your boyfriend, too!" the woman joked, snickering.

Enforcer Chrono Harlaown looked up in mild irritation from the plans he was pouring over. "Being pessimistic like that helps no one," he reprimanded. "We shouldn't make judgements until we have access to more data. We'll know more when the other team gets back from their observation run."

"Yeah, Ivali," the silver-haired woman working on the transmitter said, "there's no reason to believe it's that bad yet. I mean, there hasn't been a single scythe-wielding nine-year old, I haven't been electrocuted or concussed, and we haven't even _seen _a Alhazredian war golem." She shot a smirk at the fifteen-year old staring at the map, who was a good six years younger than her. "But then again, I have encountered them on one-hundred percent of the missions I've been on with the Enforcer, and statistics don't lie, right?"

Chrono squared his jaw, and tried to ignore the snickering from the older mages. They'd been the nearest A-ranker squadron to his line of travel from Suionetheod, so he'd arranged to meet them on Christophzeikselin, but they were precisely that; the local fast response squad for the most dead-end placement in all of this backwater district; seven people covering a volume nearly a light-hour and a half across. They hadn't even been here during the Jewel Seed Incident. They'd only been positioned in the hot, humid capital of the world for four months

It was sort of his advice which had left them stationed here, because he'd filed reports saying the district didn't have enough resources to make sure that all the territory could be reached by a fast-response squad in a day without leaving them wiped out for the transport. So the region-level Fleet Command had authorised several older posts to be expanded and new teams stationed there. Posts which were pretty much always in backwaters where the entire planetary population was clumped on one continent.

He suspected they suspected that it was his fau… his doing that they were stationed all the way out here. And that might have been why they were giving him a hard time.

Though that might have just been the normal attitude that your average twenty-year old A-ranker displayed to a fifteen-year old AAA-ranker who'd been given command over them.

Rather than dwell on that, though, he focused on the map of the training facility and compound. It was a standard design, built to identical specifications on worlds like this all over Dimensional Space, which had made finding the plans easier. He'd trained in and against such places already. But he still wasn't going to leave things to chance, so he was checking against the local plans he'd recovered to see if they'd diverged at all from the standard template.

His investigations had already paid off. They had been unduly lax and sloppy when placing this facility, in his opinion. The primary web of ground-based sensors was obscured by the hilly terrain to the south of the facility, and rather than place a secondary listening post to cover it, they'd simply scattered automated sensors among the hills. The scouting team of the squad leader and three subordinates were already moving in to take them out, and allow them a clean line of approach. And the mandatory clearance of dense foliage around a facility had not been maintained; the southern hills were covered in gorse and dry, wiry trees.

Good for them, yes, but if the facility had been compromised, he was prepared to make a – small – wager that the hostiles had used that line of approach too. He had ordered the scouting team to watch for traps left by the attackers, and had been rewarded with rolled eyes and a 'Yes, Enforcer Harlaown. That is standard protocol,' which had bordered on the insubordinate.

He looked away from the three-dimensional map of the facility for a moment, and shaded his eyes against the setting sun. It was getting chilly, the parched country losing its heat to a cloudless sky. This really was a backwater. This base was the main TSAB facility on the entire Type-3 planet. There were a few ecological stations and specialised training grounds, but some of them were automated – only manned when they were required to be – and the ones which had answered had expressed confusion and said they hadn't seen anything. The local population was a mix of subsistence farmers and some neofeudal tribals living in what had once been an Alhazredian city.

Nothing that could take down a TSAB facility, especially not before it could get a warning out. By his estimate, any force which could do that would have to… well, you could probably do it with a fair-sized force of A-rankers and inside knowledge – much like he was planning to do – but to be reliable, you'd probably want multiple AA-rankers. Hit hard and fast, take out communications…

… but they were still operational. They'd just been hacked. So either they managed to get in fast enough to lock down the comms, or it was an inside job. Or there was something he wasn't taking into account. Something… like someone powerful enough, like how Precia Testarossa had been, to lock down all signals from a planet which was how she had kept her activities on UA97 a secret until the dimensional quake.

Chrono just didn't know. Although he really hoped it wasn't another mage of Testarossa's level. Or her rage maddened ghost returned from Imaginary Space to wreck vengeance on the TSAB.

Which was ridiculous. Of course.

His Barrier Jacket chimed, alerting him to incoming signals, and he turned around to see the scouting team, flying low, pull in and land at the camp. "Lieutenant," he said, to the shortest member of the group, "what do you have?"

The blue-haired woman was frowning; not a good sign. "Cleared a path through the sensor grid. You were right; there's a blindspot which let us zero-fric slide up the hill to get line of sight on the target. Defence systems are active. Jalinsk flickered a Sensor Ghost over on the next hill, and they moved to acquire it."

"What's the condition of the facility?" he asked.

"Damaged," the woman said, frankly. "One of the barracks is gutted, and they're fire-proofed; must have been a really hot fire for that to happen. Battle damage is visible, too; on the walls. Not much of it, though, and most of it around the burned-out barracks. Burned-out cargo loader on the landing bay, but we couldn't get an ID on it."

"So it's an assault," Chrono said slowly. "Any sign of hostiles occupying the facility?"

"Nothing," a taller clean-shaven man said. "No hostiles… apart from the defences. No bodies, either. The place just looks… abandoned."

* * *

…

* * *

It was quiet in the kitchen with the door closed. Momoko quietly moved a chair against the door to stop anyone opening it casually, and winked at Nanoha.

"I've been keeping this away from your father, so don't tell him where it is," she told her conspiratorially, and rooted around in the back of the fridge for a moment, behind a stack of chilled containers. She emerged with a clingfilm-wrapped plate, on which sat two or three slices of cake that made Nanoha's stomach growl just looking at them. Momoko smiled fondly.

"I rather thought you might have missed our cakes," she said fondly. "Alright, let's finish this up ourselves, shall we? They shouldn't be _that _stale because I put them in the evening before I… got attacked. And we can talk while we're eating." Producing two forks and another plate, she sat down at the table and waited for Nanoha to take a seat next to her.

The first bite was heaven, and Nanoha heard her mother chuckle at the happy sigh that emerged as rich chocolate hit her tongue. Slightly stale or not, it was still a taste she'd been missing for almost half a year. She didn't see her mother's amusement, because she'd closed her eyes to better savour the taste, and by the time she opened them again Momoko had got her mirth back under control.

"Well then, I suppose we should start," she reflected. "Do you want to go first, or shall I?"

"Um…" Nanoha licked her lips, clearing them of icing. "I think me? At least, I think mine is more important. Uh… no offence, but…"

"No, no." Momoko nodded freely. "Go on ahead, then. What's your news?"

Nanoha took a deep breath.

"When I saw how the girl – the red one I fought – was draining Linker Cores, I remembered something I learnt in school. I think they're part of the Book of Darkness. It's this…" she searched for words, "… this ancient machine-thing, a magical construct that's no longer understood anymore. Like the Jewel Seeds. And it's… horrible. It uses its guardians to eat Linker Cores and magic until it has enough, and then it goes on a rampage. It's laid waste to whole _worlds_ before. We have to stop it!"

Momoko frowned. "Your friend Linith didn't seem to think so…"

But Nanoha shook her head angrily, cutting her hand down in a sharp gesture that would have tracked cake across half the kitchen had there been any still on her fork. "She says it's probably just rogue mages imitating them, but… it's not. I mean, I guess it might be, but I bet it's not. It's a magic-eating thing, so I bet its master is following rumours of the Jewel Seeds which are full of lots and lots of magic and so it wound up on Earth. And if it is… we need to be ready for it."

"Ah. Well." Momoko looked a little uncomfortable for a moment, before leaning forward and resting her elbows on the table. Silence reigned in the room for a moment, save for the slow ticking of the wall clock next to the door, as she stared at her plate as if a script were written on it in code, decipherable if only she could concentrate hard enough.

"… I lied to your father about what happened," she said eventually. "And Kyouya, and Miyuki. I told them I didn't see my attacker. I did."

Nanoha stared.

"… wh-why?" she asked eventually, when it became clear that Momoko wasn't going to look up or expound further. Her mother merely sighed.

"Because if I told them what really happened, they would try to… oh, I don't know. Probably fight themselves. And then they would…" She trailed off, pressing her lips together, before changing track to finish, "I would really rather not see any of them in hospital. Again."

She looked up, evaluating Nanoha carefully. "I'm only telling _you _this because I have a feeling you're going to get involved anyway, and I want you to know what you're dealing with. But… Nanoha, please promise me. If you find yourself in facing a woman with pink hair who uses a sword… don't try to fight her. Just run. Please."

"But…"

"_Nanoha._" Momoko's voice was like iron alloyed with desperation, cutting her daughter's protest off before it started. She softened as she continued heavily. "The woman… she came out of nowhere, while I was closing up the bakery. One minute I was in the café and the street outside was crowded, the next… nothing. The world turned grey and all the people just… vanished."

"A dimensional barrier," Nanoha muttered, to Momoko's nod.

"Yes. It was… an unpleasant experience. I picked up a broom and went to investigate – your father has been teaching me a lot, since you left. She didn't quite catch me by surprise, and I tried to fight back…"

Her eyes became misty with reminiscence, and tinged with faint pain. "She was abominably strong," she recalled. "And fast, too. She didn't respond to anything I said, just kept looking at me dispassionately. But it was her _skill _that was the worst thing. I could tell she was holding back, playing with me – I don't know why. I tried everything I could think of, a few things I invented on the spot… nothing. I never even touched her. And then… then I think perhaps she got bored, or maybe found out everything she needed to know, I really have no idea. Her sword caught fire and she cut my broom in half like it was nothing. I remember raising my hands to protect my face, and then… nothing."

She gestured at the faint burns on her arms. "Evidently it was a good thing I did, I suppose. I woke up in hospital with moderate burns and bruises, as well as severe exhaustion. The magic-ripping, I suppose. But the thought of Shiro and your siblings going up against her… they wouldn't stand a chance, Nanoha. I can at least press Shiro if I use my magic, even with the gap in skill. But I was throwing everything I had at her and she wasn't even trying. It was like…" she cast around for an analogy, "… like a lion swatting an errant cub. I wasn't even an annoyance. Please, promise me you won't try to fight her. And don't tell the others, I don't want them to face a… a monster like that."

Nanoha didn't like it, but grudgingly nodded. At least to the second request, that she could see the sense in. "I won't," she promised, meaning her silence. Momoko sagged in relief, and Nanoha decided not to reveal what she was already planning to do if she came face to face with the woman who'd hurt her. Flaming sword or no, she'd…

… flaming sword.

Nanoha paled. "R... Raising Heart," she said urgently. "The… oh, what were they called? The Book's servants, what were they?"

[Wolkenritter, my master.] Despite having seen and heard the gem before, and having a simple Device of her own, Momoko still gasped in delight as Raising Heart spoke. [Designated Blade, Breaker, Hound, Healer. Known to…]

"That's enough, Raising Heart. Thank you," Nanoha interrupted. She turned to her mother, expression tense. "You said she was a swordsman, who used fire-natured spells? That fits the description of the Blade that I read when I looked them up. And the one I fought fits the Breaker. I think…"

She breathed in again, the cake in front of her forgotten. "I think this proves it. The Book of Darkness is here. And that means we're _all _in danger."

* * *

…

* * *

"Dollie, stop distracting me, it's dangerous! You nearly made me mess up! If you're doing this on purpose, I'll be very cross!"

Precia watched as her daughter scolded the doll floating in front of her in a blue-tinted maintenance field, which held objects suspended in the air where they were placed. It was not the only object hovering in front of the five-year old, either. A complex latticework of interconnected components the size of her head hung before her, with the disassembled corners of a civ-Device's card form visible at the edges of the tangle.

"Now, let me see…" Alicia said, mostly to herself, as she consulted the book that hovered to her left. "Okay, check the output values on the reader thingy against the ones in the table. Done that." She concentrated intently, her tongue sticking out of the corner of her mouth. "Now I have to… um… test the standardised input whatjamacallits with the electric beeper-needle." She surveyed the sticky-field with a hint of uncertainty. "Uh… Dollie? Where did I put the beeper needle? Did you hide it again?"

The stuffed doll hung innocently in the air, staring at her with its pretty red eyes. Alicia glared at it suspiciously for a second before subsiding. "Okay, fine, I believe you. Then it must have got lost somewhere! Let's find it!"

A brief search turned up the implement, and she began to painstakingly test the input/output channels of the Device, one by one. Precia watched quietly, and with mixed feelings. It was, technically, a perfectly routine maintenance check of a basic Storage Device, unfolding the control lattice from the dimensional pocket it was stored in, partially disassembling it, testing it, and finally putting it back together again and folding it back up into its storage form. She herself had done procedures far more complex with far less effort and concentration, more often than she could count.

But she hadn't been five years old at the time.

There was pride there, yes. Pride at her daughter's genius, at the concentration and focus she was displaying. She might be simplifying the instructions and having difficulty with some of the longer words, but she was still clearly her mother's daughter, and Precia's heart swelled to see her methodically pressing the instrument's needle to each circuit-connector in turn, occasionally conferring in a low voice with her doll about the results she was getting.

On the other hand, there was also concern. Because her daughter had certainly never done this before the accident. But then… Precia had never really seen as much of Alicia as she would have liked, and the girl had still been very young. She hadn't been given much access to technology either, it was possible she would have shown this aptitude earlier if only she'd been able. Maybe it had just blossomed with the curriculum here on Schzenais. It certainly wasn't something that Fate mirrored, that was for sure.

Precia sighed, watching with ever-present fondness as Alicia finished her checks and began to reassemble the civ-Device with quick, occasionally-imprecise movements. She almost raised her voice to intervene as two of the folds became tangled, but Alicia spotted it before they shorted one another out, and instead of trying to untangle them, she carefully unfolded them all the way out again and then started over.

Precia nodded approvingly. Despite her youth, she was certainly showing the signs of being competent with science and technology. But was it because she was her mother's daughter? Or was it something else? The influence of the Jewel Seed, perhaps, or…

… no. No, it wasn't. Precia closed her eyes and shook her head, frowning as she dismissed the worry forcefully. No, she had not failed this time. This _was _her daughter, her true daughter. She had to be, Precia would know if she was not. Alicia was not another failure like Fate had been. Perhaps she was an unusually advanced child for her age, but it was still Alicia, her beloved darling girl. She had her back at last, after so long. She would _not _allow groundless doubts to ruin this for her.

"Mama! Mama, look!"

Opening her eyes again, Precia regarded the re-assembled civ-Device with interest as Alicia proudly held it up for her. "I took it apart like the book said and put it back again!" she announced in triumph. "It was easy! And Dollie helped me! She's really smart and knows things! But not as much as me!" She hugged the blue-haired stuffed toy to her with her free hand, and Precia smiled maternally at her.

"I saw, yes," she said. "You did very well indeed. A proper little scientist."

"I am, aren't I!" Alicia cheered, bouncing happily. A few wispy locks of blonde hair escaped from the braid that Precia had helped her with that morning. "Is there anything else I can look at, mama? It was fun!"

"Well, I'm sure the book has other tests you can run," Precia suggested. In fact, she knew it did, because she knew most of the tests in question almost off by heart. She prompted her Device to find its digital copy of the text and run a search. "Why don't you try around… oh, page seventy three? That seems like a good place to look."

"Okay!"

Alicia ran off back to her desk, Dollie in tow, and eagerly started thumbing through the Device maintenance text again. After a few moments of tracing the words with her finger as her tongue poked out of the corner of her mouth, occasionally interrupted as she conferred with Dollie as to what some of the longer words meant, she picked up the card-form Device on the table again and twisted it carefully. It came again apart in her hands, the dimensionally-stored lattice responding to the unlock command, and she began to unfold it to its full size once more.

Precia reclined in her high-backed chair and watched. Her attention was not so focused on Alicia, though, that she failed to miss another figure approach her, red eyes staring wistfully at the happy five-year old.

"Fate," she greeted cordially. Now that she had Alicia back, she had to admit that the girl's appearance bothered her… considerably less than it had once done. And she made Alicia happy, too. "Is there something I can do for you?"

Fate stayed quiet for a little while, watching Alicia. After a few moments, she pulled up a padded stool next to Precia's chair and sat down. She was avoiding Precia's gaze, the older woman noted. In fact, she was avoiding looking at Precia at all.

"I wasn't like that," she eventually said softly. It obviously wasn't what she had come to talk about, but it was a lead-in. "I never… did anything like that. She's wonderful, isn't she?"

Precia's eyes flicked over to Alicia, currently engaged in loudly counting across a row of wire-filaments stemming from the central processor-crystal to find port twenty seven. A slight smile curved her lips. "She is, isn't she? Well, she was always such a coordinated, graceful little girl. I'm..." She broke off for a moment to cough twice, quietly, before continuing. "I'm proud that she's managing to work at such a level all on her own." She paused reflectively. "You weren't, Fate. It was one of the ways I knew you were... were someone else. You were so clumsy when you were made. You improved, but... you weren't her."

Fate nodded, accepting the statement without argument. She remembered it too, the first few weeks and months after waking. She had been ungainly, awkward, uncertain of where her limbs were or how her body was meant to work. It had been a struggle to end up with proper coordination, though it had eventually paid off with Linith's help.

"I'm sorry," she said, looking down. "That I wasn't. That you had to wait this long."

Precia shrugged laconically. "I have her now. And you make her happy. I wish I could have more time with her, but…"

And there it was; the slight flinch and the flicker of red eyes towards her. Precia nodded internally. She'd had a feeling it would be this. She looked back at the girl patiently, waiting for her to speak.

"You mean…" Fate asked tentatively, and hesitated, tripping over her words. "I mean… I thought… since Alicia is better…" She paused miserably, searching Precia's face for a reprieve that wasn't there. "Then… you're still…"

Precia nodded, lacing her fingers together in her lap. "Yes, my condition continues to deteriorate. Without the ritual... if I hadn't done it, I might have lasted four or five years. But that would not have been living. Not without her. And... and if the TSAB hadn't got to the throne room, that might have been another six months to a year." She grimaced at the memory. "Those two were monstrously powerful."

Fate gasped softly, tears brimming in her eyes. Her knuckles turned white as her fists clenched in the fabric of her dress. "... M-Mother, I'm so sorry for not... for not... for not keeping them away from…"

"Fate. Child," Precia interrupted her. "They were a threat to me, drawing on the Jewel Seeds. What is done is done." She glanced over at Alicia, still busily working at her table, and sighed. "But... these are the final stages. My organs are dying. I need an oxygen-concentrator even to breath; haven't you noticed how I cough less?"

"... I... I had thought that maybe..."

A shake of the head. "No. There are no last minute reprieves for me, I'm afraid. I have between four and seven months left. Possibly a little longer in a coma, but that's not living either. Not really." The woman squeezed her eyes shut tiredly. She was a little surprised at the lack of bitterness she was feeling. Weariness, yes, and grief. But the anger and hatred she'd expected at the thought of her demise wasn't there. Alicia's smile seemed to have washed her clean of such things. "I... I had hoped... well, to shield Alicia and you from this. Please. Don't tell her. Let it be a surprise to her. I don't want anything to ruin our last months together. And remember what I told you, when last we spoke of this. She will need you, when I am gone. You and Nanoha both."

Fate's lips trembled, and a faint sob shook her body. But she pressed her mouth into a thin line and didn't make a sound, though tears tracked down her cheeks. Looking from Alicia to Precia and back, she nodded wordlessly, took a deep breath, and withdrew. Precia watched her leave the room out of the corner of her eye, and saw her all but fall into the arms of her familiar as she left Alicia's line of sight, burying her face in the wolf-woman's shoulder.

Would Alicia take it better, or worse? She was a more cheerful child than… than her older sister, that was true. But would that make her better or worse at handling grief and mourning for the first time in her young life?

"Mama? Where's the… rotator thingy? It says that the job of the rotator is to keep the parts in coherent dimensional syn-chron-iss-ity and… uh… tran-zish-un them through the spay-shul dimensions, but I've been looking and looking and I can't find _anything _that spins around in this mess! It's hiding from me!"

Precia pulled herself back to the present. There would be other times to worry about how Alicia would cope. Fate would grieve now, ahead of time, and so she would be strong when her sister needed her. Her devotion to the younger girl was something in which Precia could find no fault, and had never been able to even in the early days. But for now, she would put such dark thoughts aside, and enjoy her time with her daughter.

Every day was precious, after all.

* * *

…

* * *

Face down in the dirt, Chrono silently thanked the fact that his barrier jacket was keeping the omnipresent dust out of his mouth. The projective garment, recoloured to a messy shade of dirt, was the only thing stopping him from choking on it. It was night, and the alien stars of the Type-3 night hung in the sky above. Two of the moons, tiny compared to the giant satellite of mankind's native Type-1, had already risen. If he looked up, he could have zoomed in on the one ahead of him, a reddish irregular ball of rock, but he was too busy paying attention to the mission.

The TSAB mages were all greenish-brown patches against the ground, gliding over the surfaces on low-friction fields. It was the only way they could avoid the footprint sensors in the ground while also sneaking below the canopy of the aerial coverage, but it was hard going.

It was… aggravating how much less troublesome the others seemed to be finding it. Yes, he'd done the mandatory wilderness training, but pretty much everything he'd done in his almost-a-year as an Enforcer had been on ships or close to urban areas. That was where pretty much all the crimes tended to happen. Even the whole Jewel Seed Incident had happened in a densely populated area – which had been incredibly stressful at the time, but at least there had been buildings and the terrain he was most used to fighting in. He just seemed to be an urban boy, Chrono decided, as he made his way up to the brow of the slope.

Still, eventually they were in position, and he could slowly, painfully edge his way up to the brink of the hill and see the target facility with his own eyes. Or, rather, with the black wide spectrum goggles he had acquired – at personal expense – after the whole fiasco at the Garden of Time where the Testarossa clone had used AMFs to ruin his Jacket's light amplification, forcing it into hardened mode. If he went up against another AMF, he'd be ready.

Making good use of them, he took in the location, staring down from the rise. The area was surrounded by a mesh fence twice the height of a man; he could see no breaches in it. Not very professional, but in these backwaters they weren't funded for emitter grid networks. They could just fly over it without risking tripping an interdictor. Past that, there was a great deal of open ground. The landing strip was a glowing patch on thermals, the black material radiating the heat it had absorbed in the day into the night's air. At least it was clear of overgrowth; they weren't _that _sloppy.

Still, in the dust and haze of this place, the buildings of the control tower, central facility and various barracks blocks – including the burned-out one – were misted, hard to resolve details. There was too much open ground to cover to get there, especially when the standard sentry turrets were taken into account and the way the sensor dome was still operational. It would acquire and target them if they flew or walked there. And it was armoured, made specifically so an attacker couldn't take it out in one shot.

Chrono really wanted to know how whoever had compromised it had done it. They would have needed to be skilled, subtle and very fast to manage it, by his reckoning. Not the kind of people you found normally in backwaters like this. So, probably outsiders.

Oh well. He also had a way to bypass the defences.

_'I'm in position,' _he broadcast on tightband, S2U, his device, beaming his telepathic message to the other locations of the mages. _'Ready on confirmation.'_

A light on his visor turned green. Slowly, carefully, he drew his device, its storage card-form unfolding into a staff which he aimed at the burned-out building. Breathing slowly, he adjusted the aim so he was staring into one of the gutted windows.

[Scout Shot] chimed S2U.

A bolt of faint blue flashed out through the night, a streak mostly seen as an afterimage in the eye which passed into the window of the burned-out barracks. Chrono nodded once, in satisfaction, and then edged his way back from the lip of the hill, rolling over onto his back. _'Chu, Helten, tune into my frequency,' _he said. _'I want other eyes on the feed. Tell me if you think I'm missing something. Helten, I'll ask you to boost me if we need to blast something.'_

_'Understood,' _was the response he got from them, as the other mages joined him slightly back from the edge. For his part, Chrono tuned out from the world, focusing entirely on the images he was getting from his scouting spell.

Down in the valley below, the pale blue orb drifted here and there, working its way through the burned out barracks. Every once in a while, it would pause and leave a fingernail-sized glimmer of light in mid-air. That was a necessity of the control method. The anti-scrying spells were still up over the entire base, interfering with any attempt to use the standard dimensional-membrane-based methods of affecting an area. But this close, Chrono could just send commands to his spell by leaving line-of-sight transmitters as he went.

The boy smiled to himself. It took rather a fine level of control to do this, if he said so himself. There were mages ten years his superior and a whole rank more qualified who couldn't have managed to so finely place their transmitters.

_'Look here,' _Chu sent, her voice tense. _'This was the main quarters… the fire was most intense here. By this bit of wall that's… mostly clean-melted through. Innomé, that's an exterior wall. We'll need to check for chemical residue, because if that was just magic… I'd hate to meet a mage who could make a fire that hot. The floor's gone too… melted clean down into the basements.'_

_'Is… that a blade mark on the ceiling?' _the other mage watching in remarked. _'Might not mean anything of course; someone might have just scratched it. It's the barracks after all.'_

Chrono agreed on that assessment, on all parts. He flicked through the spectrum. "Same temperature as background," he muttered to himself. "Either someone cooled it down, or we can use it to set a minimum range for how long ago it was. And… weakly elevated mana levels all over the site. Higher than what they should be getting just from the wards."

Placing another transmitter at the exit from the building, he steered his scout spell outside. There were no signs of life in the compound. No bodies, though, or blood. There were a few pockmarks on nearby walls characteristic of spells, but most of the other damage looked more like mass weapons or physical Devices. And either someone had put a fist through that door, or Chrono was a fool.

A voice interrupted the exploration. _'How're you going on getting that sensor dome down?' _asked the leader of the squad.

_'Progressing,' _he sent back, tersely. _'Have the sensor dome in sight.'_

Drifting low along the floor, the faint blue glow hovered up stairs and towards the fortified tower the sensor dome was in. Its shields were up, and Chrono sighed. "S2U, optimise nodal path for efficient mana transfer, and then begin authorisation process," he whispered to it.

[Beginning authorisation process,] his Device informed him. There was a painfully long pause, of almost two minutes as the system cycled through the standard codes. [All standard codes rejected,] it informed him. [System does not recognise Enforcer override.]

"How annoying," he said softly, before switching to telepathy. _'Helten, I'm going to need that boost on my signal.'_

The man pulsed a nod, and folded his staff back down into card-form, clutching it with both hands.

Carefully, delicately Chrono eased his scout spell up, over the egg-like shell shield, until he was staring directly down at the top of the sensor dome. He flexed his fingers, and then rolled back onto his front, working his way back along the crest of the ridge until he could see his original target. Stabilising his staff with a spell which made the air like tar, he smoothly swung it until the targeting reticule in his HUD was aimed at one of the markers which denoted where his scout had left a transmitter.

_'Chu, keep watching down the scout. Now, Helten,' _he said, and his Device ignited in a pale golden glow, almost as if the sun had risen at night. "S2U. Lock current position. Establish transfer conduit."

[Conduit established.]

"Good." Chrono breathed in, released his hold on his immobile Device and flexed his fingers, held the breath, and let it out slowly. Time to give this little upgrade a whirl. He had begged and pleaded for it from his superiors – or at least sent multiple lengthy and elaborately cited request forms – after the Jewel Seed Incident on the grounds that he too often operated alone and needed more power to compensate for his lack of an Enforcer team behind him. "Load two cartridges," he ordered, already beginning the spell process.

There were two sharp clicks from his Device, ejecting the emptied casings into his stabilisation spell, which held them, hanging in mid-air. One blue ring formed around the barrel, and then a second, their presence containing the gold-lit orb of blue mana forming. A third ring formed in front of the ball of mana, but it was miniscule, barely pencil-wide.

"Remote Impact Barb Penetrator!"

A blue flash illuminated the hillside, kicking up clouds of dust. A fingerswidth of mana erupted forth from the Enforcer's device at terrifying speed, flashing across the kilometres in a mere second. It did not stop at where it was aimed, however, but deflected off the rebroadcast node, heading to the next one in the chain. For a moment, even through the dust, an onlooker could have seen the spiderweb of rebroadcasts etched out in the world by the passage before it reached the point at the pinnacle of the sensor dome and collided with the shield.

Against the focused intensity of Chrono's shot, the white-orange glow of the shield flared into life for a moment and then shattered like dropped china, the entire top half of it falling away against the needle-like beam. The beam touched the top of the sensor dome, and…

"Penetrator Detonate!"

The main body of the collected mana rushed down the pencil-wide tracer, lighting the haze up in brilliance. The top half of the tower erupted in a miniature blue sun, blindingly bright in the night. When the light faded and the onlookers' Jackets had faded back to transparency, the sensor dome was cracked like an egg, wrecked beyond use.

_'Teams Sword, Hammer, move!' _the squad commander ordered, launching herself off from the ground, flying low and fast. The two flights of mages, Chrono included, rocketed through the haze, barely above the gorse and scrubland around the base. A slight jump over the fence, and then they were tearing across the landing pad, trying to clear the open terrain before they found out if any of the base's defence systems were still operational.

The mad charge ended with one team up against a building, and the other behind the cover of the wrecked cargo lifter which had been noted earlier.

"Ha… aha. No return fire. Good… good job, Enforcer," one of the mages next to Chrono whispered breathlessly, with respect obvious in his voice.

Chrono nodded. "We're not through yet. We don't know what happened here. We know that it seems a hostile who was able to subvert the systems was able to take the base, and that they also encountered resistance at one of the barracks. We saw no blood, no bodies on the scouting, but also no signs of survivors. We need to find the people who were here. And…" his heart sank, as he realised what he was hiding behind. "This isn't a Ground Forces cargo loader; it's Navy issue. Shipboard equipment," he said.

"Sure?" one of the others asked.

"I'm a navy brat; I grew up on ships," he said. "S2U, get an ID for that serial code," he said.

[ID match. One MMEH4 cargo loader (unmanned). Equipment registered to BN-SV Ravi.]

"Yes," he said, trying to stay calm. "That means the Ravi was here in the attack. And now it's missing. That may be where we need to look to find our people, if they were taken as hostages."

Already, in his head he was composing the emergency report he was going to be sending back to his mother, back on Suionetheod. This wasn't just a missing ship or a late report from a backwater base any more. It hadn't been for quite a while now.

This had been enemy action

* * *

…

* * *

It was about an hour after her brief talk with Fate that Precia's Device alerted her to a message from Linith arriving. She made her excuses to Alicia and left to review it privately in her office, where her expression grew grimmer and grimmer as she listened to her familiar's description of what had happened and her analysis of what they had seen. Her lips pursed as the cat-woman frankly summarised her suspicions, and she snapped the message off as soon as it was finished, standing up from the desk sharply and beginning to pace as anger and frustration made her terse and snappish.

Why this? Why now? This was the _antithesis _of what she had been hoping for when she had allowed the Takamachi girl to go back to that accursed planet, and if her daughters found out…

Precia's lips pursed into a tight line. To go to Nanoha's aid, if Linith's suspicions were accurate, would be to put Alicia into life-threatening danger. Again. That was an action she could not tolerate under any circumstances. And yet… she well remembered her daughter's response when Nanoha had discovered her mother's injury. If the two of them caught onto what their friend might be facing, they would undoubtedly wish to go and involve themselves, and to deny them might well damage her relationship with Alicia irreparably, not to mention deal a heavy blow to the loyalty Fate and Arf had towards her. And preventing Nanoha's own familiar from setting out to help her mistress if she knew what threats Nanoha might be facing would likely require nothing short of death or grievous injury.

All in all, had Precia been a woman of less reserve and restraint, she might well have lashed out and hit something. As it was, her self-control and the ever-present spectre of her failing health kept her from expressing the initial surge of annoyance with a well-place volley of shooting spells. The girls did _not _need to find her coughing up blood, especially without Linith here to tend to her condition. Instead, she merely hissed furiously and took several deep breaths before schooling her features back to an icy mask.

Plan. She needed a plan, a course of action. Clearly, she would need to keep the information from the girls. If Linith was correct, and fortune smiled on them, then the whole affair could be resolved quickly and with a minimum of fuss. But planning for fortune was never a good idea. Precia pursed her lips, thinking quickly. If matters… escalated, then her options became very limited. Keeping Fate and Alicia in the dark was a temporary stopgap at best; they would eventually begin to wonder why Nanoha had not returned quickly. That meant she would either need to find a reason that would satisfy them – difficult – or come up with another way to… deal with the issue before it became a problem.

Crossing the room quickly back to the desk, Precia began to compose a message to Linith, outlining her primary plan. Her mind raced through alternatives, and she pulled up a couple of reference screens to skim over. Every word only deepened her scowl.

A scowl that flickered when pounding fists battered the locked door. Her eyes flickered over to it as her mind automatically sorted through possibilities. Fate would never dare make such a racket, Vesta and Arf rarely approached her directly, and that left only…

"Alicia," she called, frowning. "I thought I asked you not to disturb me while I was working."

"I know mama, but this is really really important! Like, _really _important! Nanoha's in trouble!"

Violet eyes narrowed sharply, and the door unlocked with a wave of Precia's hand. She swivelled in her chair, taking in the small committee standing outside her office. Alicia was in front, looking distressed. Fate was just behind her, intent and focused, jointly holding back Vesta along with Arf. The grey-haired familiar was in her child form, and clearly upset, her tail lashing in agitation.

"We just got a message back from her," explained Fate. "She says that there's at least one powerful mage there – powerful enough to defeat her like I did, back when we first met. And she also said that she thinks it might be the…" she hesitated, glancing across at Vesta and tightening her grip on the girl's arm, "… the Book of Darkness."

Raw fury whiplashed through Precia for a moment, and it clearly showed in her expression. Fate shrank back a step instinctively, eyes widening in terror. But Alicia, sweet little Alicia, just stared up at her in confusion, unable to understand why her mother looked so angry. With a determined effort of will, Precia leashed the anger and stuffed it down, blanketing it under a wave of ice-cold control.

So. This was it, then. If the girls had the faintest inkling of what that particular Lost Logia was capable of – and she knew that Fate, at least, would have looked it up as soon as she'd finished the message – then any hope of keeping them away from the situation was gone. Now all that was left was damage control.

"The Book of Darkness?" she said, pursing her lips. "I see. Linith sent me a message with similar suspicions, though she was far less certain. The odds of running across that abomination are low in the extreme, after all."

"But if it is the Book…" Fate started hesitantly – evidently still shaky from Precia's silent burst of anger. "If it is, we can't afford to just… stay here. It destroys worlds! Nanoha's family…" Her eyes flickered down to Alicia, and Precia almost winced. The girl had a point. She _did _owe the Takamachi girl a debt, it was true. And that was disregarding the fact that Alicia would revolt if she tried to say 'no'.

That didn't mean she couldn't gently steer them away from the idea, though. Linith had reported that Nanoha was unsympathetic to any thought of letting the TSAB handle things for her, but perhaps her friends could convince her differently.

"Very well," she decided gravely, inclining her head in a gracious nod. "As you say, we cannot in good conscience leave such a horror to rampage unchecked. I will arrange a less strenuous form of transport and send a message back to Linith, informing her of our arrival." She tapped her fingers reflectively on the desk, tilting her head in a show of thought. "And perhaps we could consider alerting the TSAB to the situation, after seeing it for ourselves. They, undoubtedly, can bring sufficient force to bear on the issue, if our worst fears are true."

Fate and Vesta both made motions to object, but she forestalled them with a raised hand. "I know it seems contrary to our purpose to involve them in this, but consider. They _have _put down the Book before – on several occasions, though never without cost. They have a vested interest in protecting inhabited worlds, even Unadministered ones. And if they did become involved, we could potentially retreat from the conflict and allow them to deal with it safely, intervening only as needed." She shot a significant look at Fate as she mentioned safety, and the young girl hesitated, comprehension dawning in her eyes.

Precia shrugged. "Well, it is an option we can consider. For now, I shall contact Linith and make the necessary excuses to the school… a family emergency, perhaps, linked to that which drew Nanoha away. And then I will see what transport is in the area, while you girls pack." She gave them a serious look. "This may become a long trip. Choose what you intend to bring with care."

They nodded and hurried off. Sighing, and gesturing the door closed and locked behind them, Precia rested a cool hand against her forehead and began to massage her temples. Another quiet cough forced its way out, accompanied by a wince. Being close to Linith again would certainly be one positive factor of going to help, if nothing else. Soon, she would need to go through the rigmarole of contacting the school, a ship – possibly Hektor's again, if he was in the area – and Linith. But for now, she was exhausted. A short rest, for now, was something she could afford.

After all, it might be the last one she'd have the opportunity for in some time.

* * *

…


	4. Chapter 3

In the deepest heart of the Yagami household, behind fearsome wards and layers of security that would make NATO feel a crushing sense of inadequacy, a council of war crucial to the very survival of humanity was taking place presided over by the greatest minds of a generation.

Or at least, that's how Hayate Yagami, nine-year old master of the Book of Darkness, liked to think of it. Actually, they had just drawn the curtains and taken the duvet off her bed so that they could use it as a table. But however much more... well, _dignified _other war-rooms might possibly have been, _they _didn't possess vital and secret information on the magical threat to the entire world.

They didn't have magical guardian warriors, either. Which was really, _really _cool. Her super-special magical guardian warriors had appeared from nowhere about six months ago, and everything had got so much better with them around. She was still ill, but first she had met Chikaze in the really scary incident in the hospital with the zombies, and then just about when the two of them had been scared out of their minds, why, she had turned out to have four magical people whose job it was to protect her.

This was evidence, in Hayate's mind, that the world was a fundamentally fair and just place. Of course there were special protector-people to protect people from magical zombies. Why wouldn't there be?

And so the last six months had been some of the happiest she could remember. She had a friend – indeed, she had two, because Vita, one of her protectors, was her friend and looked about her age too. Zafira, who was kind of a werewolf, but the good kind because he could just turn into a strange-looking wolf whenever he wanted rather than being controlled by the moon, was both helpful and was a pet, and she had wanted a pet – a proper one, not just like her hamsters – for as long as she had remembered. Shamal and Signum, meanwhile, the first kind and motherly, the other calm and really cool, both did nice things for her and... and it was like she had a family. A real one, not just a distant uncle; something she only barely recalled from the charcoal-sketched memories of her early childhood.

She still cooked for them, though, because all of them apart from Zafira were utterly terrible at cooking. And she really liked how they always seemed to be so grateful that she did nice things for them too.

But the current planning session she was having with her friend was not a nice thing. No, it was a council of war to talk about the defences they would prepare to a most deadly threat to all of Japan! And it would remain a top-secret war meeting, even if it was taking place next to an elderly teddy bear – who they had sworn to secrecy – and the latest volume of _Fruits Basket_.

Which, she realised belatedly, her co-conspirator was quietly tugging towards her bag.

"Hey! Chikaze! Stop that!"

"Spoilsport," Chikaze grumbled. "You've already read it, anyway." But she put the manga down and focused back on the scattered pieces of paper that littered the bed, its duvet and pillows having been exiled to the corner of the room in a crumpled heap. "Okay, fine. So what have we got?" She shuffled through the sheets of paper.

There were quite a lot of them to shuffle through, and this was because some parts of the heap dated back almost six months. Nobody could accuse the two Hayate Yagami and Chikaze Yoshida of not being women of independence or action, and after that horrible day in the hospital where the dead had walked and the sky had burned, they had taken steps against it happening again.

As they were respectively nine and eight years old, they were admittedly somewhat limited in their choice of steps, and so they had mostly opted to tackle the research side of things so far.

"Well..." Hayate said, drawing the word out, "most of our research was useless – and also really scary – because we can't get our hands on guns. Or fire them properly even if we could. But we _do _know what their weakpoints are! So we can tell Signum and everyone about that, and the other things we discovered! They're my super magical guardians, and so to protect them from the ever-present threat of zombies we must now record all the information we have painstakingly – and scarily – gathered!"

"Right," nodded Chikaze, grabbing a blank page and scribbling 'zombie defence plan stuff' at the top. "Go for the head, or sometimes the heart, right?" she checked. "Head is safer, though." Hayate nodded, and she noted it down. "Right. Okay, what else?"

"Umm... ah, there was that one English film; that was really useful!" Hayate grabbed one of the pieces of paper, covered in painstakingly-taken notes. "Okay, ready? First off, the most important thing is to _notice that there are zombies_. That's really crucial. Underline that."

Nodding solemnly, Chikaze did so. She, too, had noticed how it normally took people about ten to twenty minutes of an hour-and-a-half long film to come to that conclusion. So they were already ahead of the curve!

Hayate's new friends were useful in more ways than one. Hayate and Chikaze couldn't get the important research films themselves, because silly adults thought that children their age shouldn't be watching them. But her knights could get films _for _her, they had discovered. And yes, they were scary films. But they weren't as scary as knowing that zombies were really real, for real, and could come and attack you at _any time_.

"Second... yeah, second is that if you're bitten, you have to tell someone. Even if you really don't want to! Because they don't have to kill you right away, and you can keep helping and everything, but they should know that when you do fall over and die, you'll come back as a zombie!"

Chikaze frowned. "Why do people ever try to hide that, anyway? It's _stupid_. If they're going to die anyway, they should at least..." Her expression faltered for a moment, before she continued, "... they should at least... plan for it. You know?" She ran a pale hand across the short pink fuzz of her hair, and brought it down again to stare pensively at the veins she could pick out individually.

Hayate gave her a sympathetic look. An understanding one. "Yeah," she agreed. "Yeah, I know."

"I've..." Chikaze started, and then cut off, glancing up almost fearfully. But Hayate's look was compassionate, and she hesitantly continued. "I told my mum and dad that if... you know, then I want my organs donated to someone else, and the rest of me recycled. So a tree can feed off me or something. Th-they cried a lot, but... but I think that's better than just being c-cremated, don't you? To help other people, and plants, and stuff? It'll be like... like the leukaemia hasn't won completely. And, I mean, _I _won't be there anymore. It won't be _me_. I'll be..."

Hayate leaned over and squeezed her hand. "You'll be _fine_," she promised. "Just fine. The doctors said you'd been improving, right? That weird stuff Shamal's been doing to help you, it's been helping?"

"Well... not with the sickness itself, just with feeling better and less tired all the time," Chikaze corrected. "But yeah. And they did say that the more you feel like you can beat it, the more likely you are to." She smiled shyly at her friend, feeling a little more optimistic.

"Hey, you two?" came a voice from outside the door. "Hungry? I have cookies and juice for you, if you want them."

The two conspirators traded interested glances. "Just a minute!" called Hayate as they hastily swept their papers into Chikaze's bag and hid it under the bed. Plans secure, they attempted to adopt innocent-looking expressions. "Okay," Hayate called, "you can come in now!"

The door swung open, nudged by Vita's foot, and the short knight came in bearing a tray loaded down with snacks. She took in the studiously innocuous poses and the duvet piled against the far wall, and dryly raised an eyebrow at Hayate. "Do I even want to know what you've been up to?" she asked, with a hint of amusement.

"Wow," Chikaze said, eyes widening as she took in Vita's appearance. "What happened to _you?_" Her surprise was understandable – the whole left-hand side of the redhead's jaw was an ugly bruise-purple, and her words were ever-so-slightly slurred from the swelling. At Chikaze's blunt query, she scowled in irritation, and Hayate giggled, though she mollified Vita with a sympathetic look as well.

"It was an accident with a croquet mallet," Hayate explained. "Apparently she was too close and not paying attention when one of the people at her club swung, and... well, you can see the result. Shamal said that she should be fine in a few days, but that it was a really unlucky hit that got her in just the wrong place." She held her sympathetic look for a few more seconds before a teasing grin forced its way to the fore. "Years of fighting experience, useless before the power of a croquet mallet! Hee! They must be really powerful weapons! Is that why Graf Eisen looks like one?"

Vita tried to sulk disdainfully, but a smile tugged at her lips despite her best efforts. "It was a stupid, rookie mistake," she muttered. "I just wasn't paying attention, that was all. And I'll have you know I have _centuries _of combat experience, not just years. Heck, I've probably spent more time fighting than you have alive."

Hayate's face fell at the reminder of her knights' pasts, and Vita hastily changed the subject. "Anyway, come over here. Whatever you two have been carting your duvet around the room for, it's made your hair a mess again. Let me brush it out for you."

This suited Hayate perfectly, and she rolled over to her bedside cabinet to locate a hairbrush. While she rooted around in the drawers, Chikaze tilted her head, taking a seat on the bed and leaning back against the headboard. "Really centuries?" she asked curiously. "And you remember all of it?" She knew that the Wolkenritter were magical, of course – even had she not been Hayate's best and only friend, there hadn't really been any way to explain away the sudden appearance of four 'relatives' who Hayate had never spoken of before. But she didn't know much, and was always interested in new details about them.

"Ah ha!" crowed Hayate, before Vita could respond. She came up with the hairbrush and presented it to Vita, then expertly spun her wheelchair around to face away from the bed. Putting the tray to one side, Vita sat down on it, legs dangling off the side, and pulled her a little closer before starting to brush her master's hair in smooth, even strokes.

"Yes, centuries, but not all of it," she corrected. "I mean, we remember a lot, but I bet you don't remember stuff from when you were two." She frowned, carefully teasing at a knot until it untangled itself. "It's not quite the same, I guess, but we do forget stuff. Anything too far back just... fogs over. It all blends together after a while. I couldn't tell you much more about Ancient Belka than anyone else could, even though we were active back then. I think. I do remember fighting a Sankt Kaiser - the great uncle of the last one, I think. I lost. Though... that probably doesn't mean much to either of you. Huh. Well, you'd both be totally awed if you knew who I was talking about."

"You were fighting someone?" asked Chikaze, taking in Vita's short stature. "_You?_ I'm almost as tall as you are, and I'm only eight! And poorly, to boot!"

Vita stared down her nose at the young cancer patient. "I was bigger back then," she said in a flat tone, which shifted to haughtiness as she went on, "and I assure you, I'm more than capable even like this. Don't ever judge a mage by her size."

The sound of the front door opening filtered up from downstairs, and Hayate took the opportunity to divert the conversation back to its original course. "So you can't remember everything, but you still remember lots?" she asked, tipping her head back to allow the redhead better access and drumming her fingers idly. "How far back does it start getting foggy? I can remember back to... I dunno, six or so, maybe."

"About a century is when things get really hazy," Vita replied casually.

Hayate jerked around with a strangled sound and stared at her. Chikaze just stared, eyes wide. Vita glanced at them both and shrugged.

"What? I told you we were old. Though... uh..." her eyes found something else to look at, avoiding Hayate's eyes. "You're the best master I remember having. Ever. The others would agree."

That drew a blush from Hayate and an "aww" from Chikaze, and the young master of the Book eased back into her chair to allow Vita to go back to what she had been doing. The brush moving smoothly through her hair made her feel drowsy and carefree, and her eyes started to droop closed. "Do you know other languages, then?" she heard Chikaze ask. "I mean, I bet they don't speak Japanese in your Dimension Space. Did that come from Hayate, or are you just super-fast learners or something?"

Vita chuckled. "No, we're not that quick at learning. I think we sort of absorb the language from whoever has the Book, even when we don't activate. Well, it might be that the Book learns anything the master does, and we just get the language as a sort of side effect. They don't seem to fade, though. I know at least forty." She paused. "Course, most of those are dead now. So there's that."

Hayate woke up considerably at this revelation. "That's still cool!" she squealed, bouncing in excitement and then wincing as the movement pulled her hair painfully against the brush halfway through a stroke. She stayed still to let Vita smooth it out again, and then resumed. "Say something to me in another language!"

"Not just something like 'something', either!" put in Chikaze eagerly. "Say something the people who spoke it would have said! Like, something magical-alien-y!"

"Hmm..." Vita thought for a minute, and scowled playfully when Hayate felt out behind the wheelchair to nudge her on the leg. "I'm thinking, I'm thinking! It's hard to come up with something, alright? Let's see... oh, I know." She cleared her throat, pausing briefly to wince and rub her jaw, and began to speak in a melodic, flowing tone that made Hayate think of falling water and the pictures of ancient temples she'd seen from Greece and Italy. Whatever her knight was saying, it was fairly short, and she was done within four or five brush-strokes.

"Huh," Chikaze breathed. "That was really pretty. What was it?"

"Ah... Galean High Court." Craning round to see what had caused the hesitation, and why Vita had stopped brushing her hair, Hayate raised an eyebrow when she found the girl blushing faintly. Before she could interrogate her, though, a white-haired head poked around the doorframe.

"What's this?" Zafira asked lightly, amused. "Do my ears detect the strains of poetry? From you, Vita? I thought you hated that sort of thing."

"Be quiet!" snapped Vita, blushing harder. Chikaze and Hayate both leaned forward, eager eyes following this promising new development. Zafira's smile widened, and he slipped into the room with a wink at Hayate.

"And Royal pronouns, too? You could be executed for addressing someone not of the royal line like that. Which I'm pretty sure our master isn't, no offence intended." He nodded at Hayate, who was beginning to grin herself.

"Were you calling me a princess, Vita? That's really sweet of you! But you shouldn't have broken the rules like that. In punishment, you have to translate the rest for me! What else did you say?"

Vita mumbled something unintelligible, and shot Zafira a glare of pure poison. He didn't notice, as he was holding a hand over his mouth and trying to disguise his snickering. Given the way his shoulders were shaking slightly, it wasn't working very well.

"Come on, Vita!" pleaded Chikaze, "What was it? Tell us! Come on! Please? Please? _Please?_" Joining in on the chorus, Hayate spun around and grabbed her hand, forcing her Knight to look into big, pleading eyes. Her cheeks were by now as red as her hair, but she couldn't refuse her master anything, not when she looked like that.

"I was... complimenting your eyes," she muttered, "and your looks in general, and how kind you are."

In the brief silence that followed, Zafira appeared to undergo a sudden and severe coughing fit, and Chikaze could faintly be heard gleefully muttering something that sounded like "so adorable".

But Hayate beamed at her, and for a moment the mortification lifted. "That's really sweet of you!" she repeated, and pulled Vita into a hug with deceptive strength. "I have the best Knights ever. And you're really pretty too, Vita! And nice, when you let yourself be."

Leaning on the wall briefly for balance, Zafira regained his composure from the abrupt and inexplicable coughing fit with only minor difficulty. Off-handedly, and with an air of studious innocence that was far more successful than those the girls had attempted only a few minutes earlier, he remarked, "What she's not telling you, incidentally, is that the lines she quoted are originally from one of the more famous love poems of the era."

The look of mischievous glee on both young faces was entirely worth the silent promise of an agonising death that Vita threw him as he hastily retreated.

* * *

...

* * *

_'Enforcer Harlaown! We've got something!' _

Those words broke two frustrating, aggravating days. Three days of paranoia and uncertainty, slowly sweeping the empty facility. Three tense, demanding days, dealing with the automated base defences which had managed to injure one of the team. Three days of fielding questions from Suionetheod and beyond for which they didn't have the answers. Admiral Harlaown was still a day's travel out, though at least the ping on the communications with her was getting less and less as she approached.

So far, they had confirmed that the Ravi had been present. That was about all the information they had. The main computer networks had been expertly subverted, wiped and then smashed; anything useful lost irretrievably by whatever the attackers had done to them. It had shown a scary knowledge of TSAB databases, and was a decidedly ominous portent for the case, not to mention their chances of finding the missing garrison.

_'The sunk-cache?' _he sent back.

_'No. Contact request... standard protocols. Triangulating it to on-planet... okay, let me just... yeah, okay, the map has an icon for a weather station there. Checking it... yes, it notes that there's a small agricultural set-up there.'_

_'Prepare a connection,' _Chrono ordered. _'I'll talk to them; see if they know anything.'_

A thought was enough to have his barrier jacket return to its normal Enforcer black, the barriers flicking away from the blotchy tan-grey he had been using on this dusty hellhole of a world – Kaisers, he hated this place, though of course he tried not to show it in front of the others – and he took a moment to check his hair. Well, he couldn't do anything about that.

He opened the communications window, and waited while S2U handled the connection protocols.

[Secure link established,] his Device stated.

"Good," he said, settling his face in a professional expression. "Begin conversation."

The window flashed to colour, before resolve into the face of a man who looked to be in his fifties. His salt and pepper beard was braided with bronze ties; his head was shaved. He was wearing a loose, light-coloured top, and sitting in front of a bookshelf. "Uh, hello?" the man asked. "Is the sound working?"

"Yes, I can hear you. Enforcer Chrono Harlaown, Bureau Navy," Chrono introduced himself.

"An enforcer?" the man said, eyes widening slightly. "Oh, yes! I remember you! You were in that briefing packet we got... what was it, a year or so ago? I'm Vaan Maklecorgh... well, well, yes. I'm the one who's technically in charge of... we're an environmental monitoring station, but we do try to run things fairly. I guess I just count as the person who sends in the reports when we have to. It's good to hear that they called you in so quickly! I just hope you can find out who's behind the attacks!"

Chrono paused. Blinked. "Excuse me," he said, after a moment's thought. "The... attacks?"

The man, too, in turn blinked. "You're not here about them?" he asked, face falling. "Why are you here?"

Chrono resisted the urge to massage his temples. "We're responding to a failed security verification from the training facility," he said, picking his words carefully. He didn't want to give away information accidentally. "There have been attacks?"

"The people at Livitus base didn't tell you?" Vaan asked. "They said they were going to be sending word back to Runcorn about them! Oh, when I get my hands on..."

"It's rather more serious than that," Chrono said. He pursed his lips. "I'll come explain in person; if there have been other attacks, we should look into this. Send your coordinates; in the meantime, please can you collect together all and any information on them, so we can take a look at it."

It was the work of a few minutes to come to an agreement with the leader of his backup squad; he would take three mages with him, in case this was some trap, and they'd teleport in at a safe distance and fly the rest of the way. If there had already been attacks on mages on this world... well, at the very least, there might be evidence. Something which was sorely lacking in this abandoned base.

"I want a nice, clean deployment here," he told the three who would be coming with him. "If this proves to be an ambush, we break off immediately, disengage, and fall back to the designated rally point. We teleport in aerial formation, and make sure your barrier jackets are set up for a hot entry."

None of them even rolled their eyes at the way he was going over basic protocol. This abandoned base, with no traces left by the vanished inhabitants or whatever had made them disappear was disconcerting enough as it stood. As they prepared for the teleport, there were prayers on multiple lips.

It was earlier in the day above the environmental monitoring facility, the large yellow sun of Type-3 worlds not having reached its zenith yet. Heat haze hung over the parched land, and the native plants were dry and scrubby. A sparkling river could be seen from the aerial position of the mages, but when magnified the water was far below the maximum of the banks.

The facility was rather larger than Chrono had expected from the first mention of it. It was in the middle of a section of cleared fields and small copses, the faintly visible haze of a low-level barrier marking the divide between the local environment and the Type-1 ecology the human colonists had brought with them. Crops grew in neat circles, their irrigation systems puffing out faint white clouds in the heat. Around the standardised Bureau designs of the main structures were an assortment of civilian houses, many of the made of local woods.

"Hmm," Chrono observed, taking in the sights. "Maybe... a hundred, a hundred and fifty inhabitants, looking at the size? Looks like a moderately-sized village from up here."

"Population data says one-twenty two inhabitants as of last census," one of the female mages said.

"Bigger than you'd think," the other woman said, "but then again, I guess in backwaters like this they just clump together. It's probably worth it just for the stable power supply."

"Let's take a look," Chrono ordered. "And stay alert, in case it's a trap."

If it was a trap, it was a particularly well-disguised one. Landing on a grassy patch close to the central compound, the Bureau mages were greeted by Dr Vaan Maklecorgh, the man Chrono had talked to earlier, who in person was revealed to be a somewhat overweight bear of a man, towering over all of them. He took them to his cluttered office, moving books and disassembled Device-circuitry off seats to open somewhere for them to sit. They waited while he brewed some coffee in the noisy machine which sat on his desk.

"This is an environmental monitoring station," he explained, looking out the window. "We've got... oh, a few thousand people scattered up and down the coast here, and so one of the things we do is keep an eye on how the local Type-3 ecosystem is handling any introductions of Type-1 stuff. There's some Dark Age ruins over up North, in a protein-contaminated zone, and 'bout fifty years back, a team dug up most of them. I was just a lad at the time, but they gave a talk on how this was right at the border of Alhazredian space and so the Fall happened before they really got set-up. Looks they abandoned this place, or maybe all died, but the local environment's still damaged from the failed terraforming they did, even after thousands of years. You should see the satellites' views of some areas. What a mess!"

"You have satellites up?" Chrono asked, perking up. "What kind?"

Oh, we have a few up, for weather purposes," the older man said. "We tracked the Ravi's approach in on them. It's kind of important, you know," he said, shrugging in a self-effacing manner, "given that's how we get the stuff we can't make here."

"What ground-resolution do they have?" Chrono said, intently.

The man winced. "Not too good," he admitted. "They're weather sats, and... well, clouds are hard to miss. You've got a big grey mass, by the way. Not surprising, really; the rainy season's a local year late all over South Chaken, but it had to show up."

"Oh?" Chrono said, mildly surprised. There had only been a few wisps of cloud in the deep blue sky last time he had checked.

"Yeah, it's a biggie, rolling in off the Paenech. A storm's heading your way." The coffee machine chimed, and he poured himself a black coffee. Chipped mug in hand, he started to explain.

"When it began," he started, after the formalities were over, "we didn't realise what was going on. Why would we? First Acexi fell ill... she's the local doctor. She was listless, tired, sick in the morning. Well, you know how flus can be. And when more people came down with the same thing, it was just a bug going through. It happens sometimes, you know, especially since we'd had a TSAB training squad stop by in the week before and we often pick up sniffles."

Chrono nodded. It was sadly true that diseases jumped so easily from world to world. There were vast vaccination programmes in the Core Worlds trying to keep the teeming masses of mankind from infecting each other and Bureau Health Agency tried its best to keep backwater worlds vaccinated against major diseases, but it was never enough.

"So more people came down with the same thing. Hell of a thing, it was; like the worst flu ever. No nausea, but you just didn't have the energy for anything. Wiped you out for a few days, and then you were back on your feet. Everyone took ill in the night, but... well, that happens. Nothing was triggering any break-in alarms or anything like that and there wasn't any signs of... you know, violence or anything. But eventually enough people fell ill that we had to call in Livitus base, and their doctor came over here. By then, quite a few people had recovered, but he couldn't find anything wrong. And he was just running some tests and that's... well, he found out that it wasn't a disease. Something, someone was draining our cores."

Chrono's mouth felt as dry as the dusty lands outside. "Are... you sure?" he asked, warily.

"That's what he said, and we got the reports from her. And then he came down with it, too, and that was proof that something was going on, because he'd been keeping a biohazard jacket up all the time. So it wasn't a disease. And he said his Device had been tampered with, because it just had..." the man spread his hands, "missing time. No records, no monitoring, nothing."

"How long ago was this?" Chrono asked. The killer question.

"Almost... two weeks ago. Let me just..."

Linker core draining. Capacity to subvert TSAB systems. Oh dear. Oh dear. "I need everything you have," Chrono ordered. "Security footage, the doctor's reports, everything. I'll need to interview the people who have been attacked and..."

His Device chimed, and Chrono answered. _'What is it? I'm in the middle of something.'_

_'We've uncovered the sunk-cache for the base,' _the lieutenant said, promptly. _'We're going to need you back as mission lead for this and to secure the evidence.'_

Chrono massaged his temples. _'Any sign of tampering?' _he sent back.

_'Not as far as we can tell!'_

The Enforcer clambered up to his feet, brushing off the dust that got everywhere in this forsaken backwater. _'All units, reinforce the perimeter around the sunk cache,' _he instructed. _'Chu,' _he sent to the silver-white-haired technical expert, _'make sure we're ready to send everything from it back. I don't want anyone getting their hands on it before it gets to the Asura. We're headed straight back!' _ He nodded at the scientist. "We're going to have to delay the interviews, but I'll take all the data you have right now!"

The man blinked.

"At the double!"

Because if they were facing what he feared they were, they were going to need all the information they could get.

* * *

...

* * *

"The Book of Darkness," Precia began, "is what we may be facing, in a worst-case scenario." With a wave of her hand, she called up an image of the thing to hover above the table. It was a menacing, ominous tome, hardbound in dark brown and bearing a pointed golden cross on its cover.

"It is unlikely that we stand opposed to the true Lost Logia," she continued. "In the hopeful and more likely case that we do not, however, our foes will still likely be imitating it in an attempt to capitalise on its formidable reputation. Therefore, we will assume the worst, and plan to face the Book itself. There is little information about it that is certain, but what there is, I will share."

She looked at the people seated around the table. There were seven of them, though with the familiars in their animal forms, the small room was not as cramped as it might have been. To her left, Arf and Fate watched attentively, one sitting on the lap of the other. Vesta lounged on the table surface beside them, though to her credit the little grey kitten was being remarkably quiet and well-behaved by her standards, either out of worry for Nanoha or intimidation.

One possible source of that intimidation sat to Precia's right, the low hum of machinery audible even when she was still. Precia wasn't sure what had happened to the... well, she was _probably _a girl; or had been. She was relatively sure Ićeoak was a female name, at least. It was hard to tell under the bulky, brassy suit that covered about half her body – a life support system, if Precia was any judge, and from what she had seen of the body underneath, it was no normal affliction it was compensating for. She sat still as a stone, with only the movement of her breathing to tell that she was alive.

And finally, across the table from Precia, sat the first mate and the engineer. Benedict and Wilhelm, both of whom Precia knew from previous association with Hektor. Benedict was the larger man, and could have been handsome in a sort of rugged way were it not for an old burn mark twisting the skin around his jaw. His long coat and tough, practical clothes were a contrast to the industrial Jacket of his partner, whose shorter messy hair was mostly covered by a hard-tech facemask pulled up out of the way. They sat flanking a window to the bridge. Hektor, naturally, had refused to leave the ship's controls, regardless of the fact that their course was set and he wasn't strictly needed there.

The old smuggler-pirate glared at her through the link, gimlet eyes sharp in a pockmarked face. "I'd have been decidedly less enthusiastic about accepting this job," he grumbled, "if you'd come clean with all the details ahead of time."

Precia waved him off irritably. "I like this no more than you, Hektor," she snapped. "But you and yours will be perfectly safe. Alicia and I will not be entering affairs directly, and indeed will be staying as far from the conflict as possible. Your ship and your crew will go nowhere near any potential combat. Merely act as a staging post for us, four or five dimensions out."

It was clear he still wasn't pleased with the idea. But he sat back with a noise that was half grunt, half scoff, and let her continue. She did so, bringing up four vague silhouettes. Three were human, of average height and indeterminate gender. The fourth was some kind of wolf or large dog.

"The Book itself is only a threat towards the final stages of its cycle, which we will be taking great pains to avoid. Therefore, the primary danger comes from its guardians, the so-called Wolkenritter. There are four templates; the Blade, the Breaker, the Healer and the Hound. They are released with the Book's activation, and begin to core-rip mages to feed the Book itself. It seems they are only able to do this to a given mage once – though I would not recommend allowing them to – and once they reach some critical amount, the Book seems to go berserk and generally devastates the region. On its last activation, almost ten years ago, it took a TSAB warship to bring it down. The ship itself was lost in the process, along with all hands."

Silence rang out from her audience as she concluded. "It is these, or imitators of the same, that have apparently chosen to target Nanoha's homeworld."

She turned to pin Fate, Arf and Vesta with a hard gaze. "Let me make this perfectly clear. If this is, in fact, the Book of Darkness itself, our best course by far would be to anonymously alert the Bureau and retreat. The Cloud Knights of the Book are ancient and powerful combatants, highly experienced in their respective roles and entirely willing to kill, unlike the TSAB. They are not opponents to take lightly."

_'If Nanoha's in trouble, they better not take _us _lightly!' _Vesta put in, her tail puffing up and her fur standing on end angrily. Violet eyes flickered down to pin her, and she abruptly became rather smaller again.

"So noted," replied Precia calmly, "but I will remind you that Alicia's safety is a factor I am loathe to risk." The little girl in question had been carefully excluded from the discussion, and sequestered in the rather poky room she shared with Arf and Vesta.

"I'll admit, I've heard rumours, and I was a kid when it turned up last, but beyond the basics I don't know much about the thing, and nothing beyond the horror stories about these guardians," Benedict spoke up. He leaned forward, propping his chin on his hands. "I'm guessing they got their little nicknames for a reason?"

Precia nodded curtly. "The guardians have been observed to look different with every incarnation of the Book, so physical descriptions are meaningless – hence the relative ease of imitation. Their weapons and methodology, however, stay roughly the same." She twitched her fingers, and one of the figures expanded, the others vanishing. "The Blade is the greatest threat in direct combat. Primarily a sword-user, though it has been recorded with a number of bladed weapons as well as the bow, and possessed of a strong fire-affinity. Its estimated rank is S+, and I will not bother to list off its recorded kills, because we would be here for hours. It will suffice to say that it includes a Sankt Kaiser." She looked at Fate and the familiars again, with a hint of what might have been concern in her eyes. "I trust I will only need to state this once. If you find yourself facing this Knight, run. Even you, Fate, have very little hope of anything but survival. I would estimate that you are faster than it is, which gives you a good chance of escape, but attempting to actually engage it will only end one way."

Fate nodded solemnly, while Vesta mewled quietly in distress.

"I will emphasise again that the Wolkenritter are the defensive system of a Class 1 Lost Logia," Precia went on. "They were programmed with the code of honour of the Belkan Knights, but do not mistake that for anything more human. They are attack programmes slaved to the will of the Book's master. They may try to fool you into believing they are people. They have done so before, in previous incarnations. It is merely a ruse to get closer to you to harvest your linker core. Every action they take is designed to maximise their efficiency in harvesting. Mages that have trusted them in the past have discovered this the hard way. I would very much appreciate it if you did not follow their example."

Another nod, and resolve crystallised in Fate's eyes. "I understand," she said, already focused on her unspoken new objective.

"Good. Next, the Breaker." Another small wave, and the anonymous figure's weapon shifted to a warhammer. "It has been recorded with hammers, maces and various other blunt weapons, and is known to use projectile ranged weapon systems. Unlike the Blade, its area is not combat specifically, though it still holds an estimated AAA+ rank in battle. Rather, it is a barrier-breaker, and an extremely good one."

_'Damn,' _growled Arf. _'I'm going to want to avoid them, then.'_

_'Huh?' _Vesta blinked up and looked around in confusion. _'Wait, what's a barrier-breaker? I mean, other than something that... uh... breaks barriers.'_

_'It means someone who specialises in smashing through barriers, shields, walls... any kind of defence, magic or not. They're basically the counter for defensive casters like me,' _Arf explained sullenly, still growling. _'Well, Fate should be able to out-manoeuvre it, if it comes to that. Just make sure Nanoha doesn't try to block it head on, and stay at range where it can't hit you.'_

Vesta nodded rapidly, committing this to memory.

"There is less data on the other two, as they take a less active role." The third and fourth figures, unarmed human and canine, grew to hover above the table. "However, from what has been observed, the Healer is predominantly a support mage, and the Hound is some kind of familiar-derived bodyguard, focusing on unarmed combat such as Strike Arts and defensive magic. Of the two, I would actually rate the Healer as proportionally more dangerous to us, as it almost certainly has detection magic and thus the greatest chance of finding us. We will have to be careful and take measures to avoid its notice."

"Hold on." It was Wilhlem who spoke now, frowning. "There's another one, isn't there? The Wraith?"

Precia frowned minutely. "Yes... well, perhaps. Certain older records do indeed indicate a fifth guardian, generally agreed to be some kind of assassin focused on stealth and espionage. The Wraith, or Killer." She nodded at Vesta, whose ears had perked up with interest. "Indeed, not dissimilar to your talents, my dear. Though of a decidedly more lethal bent. However, no such Knight has been seen and verified in any of the past four incarnations of the Book, which are the only ones the Bureau has records of. It may be that they were not utilised, or alternatively that the function has somehow been excised from the Book entirely. Or, given the older records only note its presence at the end of an instantiation, it may be something unlocked when the Book has been completed."

"This all seems a little beside the point." The voice of the armoured figure was oddly pitched and slightly slurred, with the tell-tale lag of a translation program in effect. "Surely, the best course would be to target the Master of the thing and avoid fighting the guardians entirely? Kill them, and the Book will leave, no?"

Precia's eyes narrowed sharply at that, and she heard a squeak and a sharp intake of breath from across the table. A quick glance showed Fate looking pale and considerably less focused than she had been. Arf was trading worried glances between her mistress, Precia and the woman opposite them, and Vesta had drawn back slightly to the table's edge.

"That is true," Precia said smoothly, before the situation could deteriorate any further, "but I'm afraid such a plan would be difficult to the point of impossibility. Attempts have been made along such lines before, and have never met with success unless the Master was making no attempt to hide. The Book is extremely well concealed until the final stages of its activation cycle, and the Wolkenritter will not be so foolish as to leave its host unguarded. If we _can _locate the Book itself, then we can consider options – alerting the TSAB or, perhaps, a targeted strike to avoid unnecessary death." Fate relaxed somewhat at this, though she still looked uncomfortable. "Still, it is unlikely we will be able to track it down at all. And if there is no Book, there will be no master to find."

"I can't say that I like the idea of getting the Bureau involved," Benedict put in. "All of us here have plenty of reason to avoid them."

"Indeed." Pale lips curled up in a smile. "Well, we shall have to hope it does not come to that. And in the meantime, we can discuss where we will orbit so as to avoid detection while staying within operational range..."

* * *

...

* * *

Half an hour of discussion later, a decision had been more or less agreed on, and the various occupants of the room began to file out. Fate hung back and waited for Precia, who hadn't moved from her seat.

"Mother?" she asked, and moved quickly to help the older woman up. She shivered as she felt how light Precia was now, and how heavily she had to lean on Fate. True, she wasn't supporting the majority of Precia's weight. But if her condition continued to worsen like it had been in the week or so since Linith had left, it wouldn't be long before she was. Fate hadn't realised just how much the familiar did for her mother until they had been separated. Now she looked at the paleness to Precia's skin, the way her hands trembled minutely and the sense of ephemerality to her body, as if one strong wind could carry her away, and felt like crying.

What made it worse was that she was pretty sure Precia _had _known how much she needed Linith. And she'd let her – _told _her – to go with Nanoha and check up on the Takamachi family anyway. Fate had been one of the ones demanding that she do that – partly out of compassion for Nanoha, yes, but had she given any thought to how it would affect her mother? Even for a moment?

She hadn't, and the guilt from that gnawed at her, even as she crammed it down behind her mask of composure. Settling Precia's arm almost casually on her shoulder, in a way that concealed how much support it was providing unless you looked quite closely, the two of them manoeuvred out into the corridor and turned in the direction of the Testarossas' quarters.

They were almost there when a distant shout distracted Fate, coming from somewhere below them. She turned, and deprived of her support, Precia coughed and stumbled. Fate reacted quickly, but the older woman was already falling by the time she moved. Her fingers closed around Precia's arm, hard – too hard – and jerked her to a halt as Fate shouldered her weight again.

"Mother," she gasped, horrified. Precia shifted quickly, letting her sleeve fall to hide it, but just a glimpse was enough to see that she was already starting to bruise. An ugly purple band was forming where Fate had grabbed her – hard, yes, but not so hard that it should have had that kind of effect. She was like a china doll these days, Fate thought helplessly, so easily damaged. Fate was meant to be protecting her from harm. Instead, _she _was the one hurting her. She raised anguished eyes to Precia's for a moment, then squeezed them tightly shut. No. No, she was meant to be composed, controlled. Something stable for Alicia, after... after. And that meant that if she kept falling apart all the time, she was useless, and then what was the point to her?

"I... I'm sorry, mother," she stammered, helping Precia into her room. "I didn't... your arm, I was trying to..." She couldn't heal it, either, not like Linith could. She had been doing her best in the evenings, progressing through the regime of healing spells that the motherly familiar usually handled. She couldn't do them nearly as well as Linith, though. It was a horrible, helpless feeling, watching her mother's condition deteriorate without being able to do anything about it.

"It is nothing," Precia sighed, sitting down heavily on the bed. "Though do try to be more careful, Fate. It might not matter overmuch in my case, but Alicia could be hurt if you manhandle her like that. And speaking of Alicia, I have little doubt that she was at the centre of that cacophony. Please go and attend to her – I need to rest, and I believe the familiars have returned to their own room, rather than wherever Alicia has got to." She glanced at the time. "In fact, it's about time for her to go to bed anyway. Fetch her back here, please."

Fate hesitated for a moment. But only a moment. Habit and obedience won over concern, and she did as she was told, slipping out of the room as Precia settled herself on the bed with a sigh and going in search of the noise. The ship wasn't large, with only two levels and a dozen rooms. She located the source of the noise at the same time as the armoured woman, and they met at the door to the impromptu workshop that led into the engine room.

From the sounds of it, a scuffle was going on within. A few words were audible through the door and the general incoherent fury they were being shouted with. "Get her... my tools... workbench... _out!_"

"Okay, what's going on here?" Ićeoak slid the door back with a rattle, interrupting the argument brewing behind it. Alicia stood at one of the workbenches in the long, cluttered room, her blue-haired doll beside her. It lay on the table next to a large, blocky device, whose lights were blinking on and off in a regular pattern. Wilhelm and Benedict were between her and the door, the former being held back by the latter and fuming.

The sole visible eye behind the half-faceplate flickered over the tableau. "Ah. Fine. Wil, stop shouting. Bene, calm your boyfriend down. You, little girl, come on out of there before Wil blows his top."

The little girl pouted, picking up her doll and hugging it. "Aww! But I was having fun!" She turned to Wilhem. "Did you know the connection-thingie in that thing is wonky, by the way? I fixed it for you, it's lighting up like it's meant to now."

Wilhelm twitched. "It's not a _thing_, it's a... wait, what do you even mean, you fixed it? It's been broken as long as I've been working on it! You probably don't even know what it does!"

Alicia scowled at this. "I do so! And I asked it to fix itself and it did! Well, actually, the first thing I did was take the red thingie apart like it said in the book which I read ahead in when Mama wasn't looking. But then it turned out to be different, and the device thingie in it actually was the one from near the end! And there was a lot of stuff I didn't really understand in there, but there was one thing that looked all wrong, so I checked it and it was! Did you mean to put a different circuit thingie in the shell? It had a different number to the thingie that was meant to be there, so I put the right bit in and the pretty lights came on! Woosh! Oh, and also you were storing stuff in your tools that wasn't meant to be there! And that was getting gunk in them, so I took the little brush and cleaned them all out!"

Silence followed this explanation. Benedict quirked an eyebrow.

"Girl seems to know what she's talking about," he joked. "Maybe we should hire her, instea- hey!"

He was interrupted as Ićeoak shouldered the men out of the way, and curtly pulled the girl from the room. "Keep your workshop better locked in future," she called over her shoulder as the door swung shut, ignoring the cut-off objection from within. Then she turned her attention to Alicia, who had taken the opportunity to happily bounce over to Fate and grab her hand.

"And _you_, little girl..."

But Alicia cut her off in mid-sentence, looking up at her curiously. "You're funny," she commented. "And like me. Are you a boy or a girl?"

Ićeoak blinked.

"I think you're probably a girl," Alicia continued thoughtfully. "But you don't sound like one, and Dollie," she held up the little doll to her ear, moving it slightly as if it were whispering to her, "... Dollie thinks you're neither, which sounds a bit weird to me." She said this last in a doubtful tone, with a reproachful glance at the doll. Then she looked back up brightly. "Oh! And you're part Lost Logia too, aren't you? Like I am!"

The armoured woman went very still for a moment, eye fixed on Alicia intently, who smiled cheerfully back up. Fate could sense rapid calculation going on behind the impassive expression, and subtly shifted Alicia a little behind her, ready for what might be a violent reaction.

But no explosion came. After a moment, Ićeoak shrugged, a wry smile twisting the half of her mouth that was visible. "Pretty much," she agreed. "You ever heard of Polyam-Ladradun Syndrome?" Two blank looks answered her. "No? It's nasty stuff. An old Dawn States techno-bioweapon, I think. Takes human beings and reshapes them into weapons. I got infected by an outbreak two years ago. Converted about half of me before it burnt out. Too old, too broken to do the job properly. Don't worry, I'm not infectious," she hastened to add. "Now... male hormones, female hormones; both would get in the way of the synthetic stuff the converted bits're pumping around me. And with rejection issues on top of that, this suit's all that keeps me alive." She rapped the faintly humming chest plate with her knuckles and her grin twisted somewhat. "Word of advice; when they tell you not to touch the thing which looks like a Device, don't."

"That's horrible," said Fate softly, sympathy welling up in her. Ićeoak shrugged dismissively.

"It's happened. No use complaining about it. With as much of me as it's replaced, trying to undo it now would kill me." The bitterness in the words was old and worn, accepted but still burning. "Why do you think I'm here? You think anyone else will have me, like this?" She gestured at the brassy exoskeleton, with its sealed sections and life support systems. "Fat chance. Even with the syndrome burnt out, I'm a TSAB 'hazard'. They'd want me somewhere they could keep an eye on me. At best."

"That sounds really sad!" Alicia put in. Taking both of them by surprise, she stepped forward and hugged the older woman, adjusting her position awkwardly to avoid discomfort from the suit's hard surfaces. "If I think of a way to make you feel better, I will! Maybe I could make your suit work better!" She yawned, then blinked, and looked at Fate. "Oh. But I think I have to go to bed now, because I'm sleepy, and mama always makes me go to bed when I get sleepy. Which I don't think is very fair, but I have to do it. Come on, big-little sis! Dollie won't go to bed unless you help tuck her in!"

With an apologetic glance at Ićeoak, Fate followed her back to the two passenger rooms their family were sharing.

Her mind, though, lingered on the woman's words. On the repercussions of what Lost Logia could do to flesh and blood.

And on what that might mean for Alicia.

* * *

...

* * *

Chrono found his mother in her quarters on the Asura, slumped over her desk next to a mound of empty cups of tea. In acknowledgement of the fact that she was also his superior, he snuck back out, and knocked loudly. And then knocked again, after a while.

Twenty seconds later, she answered the door. Chrono repressed any smile he may or may not have been inclined to give, and saluted sharply.

"How are you so awake?" Lindy asked, shaking her head sadly.

"I'm mostly in synch with Pihroea time," he said, with a shrug. "I've been out in natural light for days, and that helps." He paused. "I've come with the summary of the decoded reports from the sunk-cache. You requested them as soon as it was done."

Lindy rubbed her eyes. "I'm sorry, I just dozed off because I was up most of last ship-night reading the reports from this bit of the sector, trying to see if there was anything else odd," she apologised. "Can you give me... five minutes or so?"

"I'll see if Meeting Room 1 is free," Chrono said. He looked his mother up and down. "And get the kitchens to bring some refreshments. You look half-dead."

"You could have said I never looked better," Lindy grumbled, heading in the direction of the small sink in her quarters.

"Yes ma'am," Chrono said, saluting smartly again.

It was a considerably fresher-looking Flotilla Admiral who entered the meeting room to receive the summary from the Enforcer. Chrono stood, grim-faced, in front of a timeline floating in mid-air.

"From what we have gathered from the sunk-cache, at ten-oh-three DST – the middle of the night, local time – there was a power fluctuation in the aerial coverage, for a period of thirty seven seconds. We can confirm that the Ravi was landed there, at the time. An operator alarm was raised, and was responded to. An inspection was ordered by the on-site maintenance manager, as per protocol; there is no record logging its successful completion.

"At ten-oh-eleven, the last operator-directed action in the control centre is recorded; the operator logs their ten o'clock all clear." Chrono sniffed. "Late, I should add. No further manual operator activity is raised. An automated warning is raised at ten twenty-three, and is not responded to; we must conclude that the control centre was taken out at some point in those twelve minutes."

Lindy sighed. "Not even anything from the kill-switch?" she asked. "What was the warning?"

"No, ma'am," Chrono said. "When we investigated the control centre, we found the dead man's handle had been bent by the application of a blunt object, such that it was locked in the 'safe' position. As for the warning... it's a fire in the barracks. The one we discovered burned out. No operator action is logged, as I noted before, but the system none-the-less sends the 'fire contained' message within one second. There are several such reports recorded, matching up with the locations of the other major fires we found, and each time they are locked down. From this, we must accept that the hostiles had majority control of the base's systems by that point, but were not operating from the main control console."

Lindy pursed her lips. This was very, very alarming news indeed. "Was the operator still logged in?" she asked, on a whim.

Chrono nodded. "Yes. I didn't understand that, either; the hostiles chose to directly control the systems rather than use the user interface. It didn't make any sense. The subversion shows an intimate understanding of the hardware, but... why would you not use the software if you could? I suspect that they had bypassed the control centre entirely, which would explain the way that the data received by the cache falls in quality and quantity rapidly."

The admiral nodded. "Ah. That sounds like... well, I've encountered records of some things that can do that. Certain specialised forms of subversion support Devices, some summoner lineages... actually, I believe that annoying woman, Alpine, is one of those families with her bugs. You need something dedicated for the role, but it is possible if you have direct access to the hardware."

The enforcer sighed. "Well, at least that narrows down the range of potential culprits somewhat," he observed. "Of course, if we're going to be talking about groups known to have dedicated support Devices and expertise with Bureau data systems..." he added, meaningfully.

"Chrono." Lindy sighed. "Continue with your report."

The boy almost went to shrug, but stopped himself. "There's not much more we can say. The last message sent to the cache was at eleven-eleven DST. The entire site was subjected to a magical wash, so we're probably not going to get any characteristic markers from mana decay patterns, and there's microscopic burnt residue consistent with an organic scrub."

"That tells us that they..."

"... are professionals and very aware of the mechanisms we use to track things," Chrono agreed. A note which could almost be described as 'pleading' entered his voice. "Professional, organised, powerful, and we know that core draining has been taking place on Pihroea and that the base had been alerted of it shortly before the attack! What else could destroy a base so quickly and so silently, and all but cover up the attack?"

"I will not work on the assumption that the Book of Darkness has shown up in my district," Lindy said sharply. "Not when there are other things which it could be."

"Six months after the Jewel Seed Incident? When we know it needs vast amounts of magic?" Chrono took a deep breath. "It's been eleven years," he said, trying to keep his voice controlled. "It was always going to show up again. It always does. And all it would take is for its current master to hear about the Jewel Seeds and think we might have missed one and..."

"Chrono! Enough," Lindy said, raising her voice. Under the desk, her fingers were locked together, knuckles white. "It is something I am taking account of, but it is too early to know. And... though I would be loath to do it, I will have you reassigned if I can't trust you to be objective... well, as objective as possible. I don't want to do it; it would leave me without the best mage I have access to and if you're right I'll need that, but I will!"

The enforcer screwed his eyes shut, biting back anything he was about to say. "Yes, ma'am," he said.

"Rest assured, I am treating this with all seriousness," his mother said. "I have told Gil, and he's promised me all the help he can get me; I've also logged everything I have so far with Central. This is a serious incident; a missing ship and its crew, a destroyed base, and the base staff are missing too?" She breathed out. "The priority is finding the ship. That's key. We're working under the assumption that the crew of the Ravi and the base staff are hostages. It's a transport ship; there's plenty of space to hold that number of people, and supplies too.

The woman massaged her temples. "However," she said, "privately... well, although I haven't seen enough to believe it's the Book, I do agree that it's likely related to the Jewel Seed Incident. Maybe whoever did this thinks we missed a Jewel Seed; maybe they think they've found an Alhazredian ruin like the Garden of Time... which is another reason they might want a supply ship. In case it's the former, I think we should be ready. Which is why... you remember Zest's team?"

Chrono's eyes widened. "You've called them in?" he asked. "The weather got worse, so we have a ward to stop the rain from disrupting the evidence scene and..."

"Well, no," Lindy admitted. "I don't have the authority; far outside my jurisdiction. But I have notified them of the missing-ship details – after all, they're a specialist investigation team, and given the evidence you have here, I'm going to try to request aid from their superiors. The best I can manage is trying to get them in the area, in case your suspicions are right... and if they're not, at least we'll have the two of them trying to find our men. And luckily Alpine should still be on maternity leave," she added, forcing a smile.

"That's something," Chrono said, nodding. "I would feel much better knowing they were in the area."

"And... well, at the very least, as per standard protocol I was authorised to call in a team with experience on UA97, as it's an Unadministered World. They'll certainly be useful in setting up an on-site base of operations in case the unknown hostiles are looking for the Jewel Seeds, even if only the squad leader is really suitable for frontline combat. Better that we're ready and waiting for them if they do show up."

Chrono blinked. "We have a team of experts on UA97 culture with actual field experience there? Where were they during the Jewel Seed Incident?"

Lindy gave him a look.

The boy blinked. And his face fell. "Wait," he said. "You didn't say 'experts'. When you say 'a team with experience on UA97'..."

* * *

...

* * *

It was still early morning in the Lanster household when the hungover young woman in the spare bedroom woke up. Air Cadet training installed early rising as a habit, one that was hard to break even when it wasn't strictly necessary. Muttering various oaths to herself and searching vaguely around for her shoes, she blearily went through the memories of the previous evening.

It had been a celebratory date with her sort-of-not-quite-official-yet-boyfriend, since they were both on short-term leave after officer training exams. They'd had dinner at a very nice restaurant, and afterwards decided to go flying briefly in one of the larger parks. They'd... somehow gone from skimming treetops to making out, and then made their way back into the city in search of a pub...

She winced as a beam of sunlight through the cracked-open curtain added a mild spike of pain to her headache, and then winced again as her stomach growled. Right, yeah, they hadn't eaten _that _much in the restaurant, and they'd done quite a bit of exercise flying afterwards. Plus the... uh... other exercise they'd got.

Food, then, was the name of the game. Tiida was... well, she wasn't entirely sure where he was, though she'd been over at the house before, and was reasonably sure this was the spare room two doors down from his. She vaguely recalled helping each other up the stairs, and being pointed to a door as he stumbled off down the corridor as quietly as he could. Regardless, at the moment she was more interested in some form of food that wouldn't upset her stomach than she was in his whereabouts.

Operating on the fairly sound logic that she would mostly likely find such in the kitchen, she limped downstairs, searching her pockets grumpily. After a few seconds of groping, she came up with a small can, which she cracked open and downed the contents of with a grimace.

Ahhh. That was much better.

Granted, her mouth still tasted like something had been roosting in it, but the pounding headache began to subside, and the queasy nausea retreated somewhat. She could think clearly again about things.

Things like last night. She and Tiida had been dancing around each other in a sort-of-but-not-quite-officially-dating way for a month or so now, and this might be enough to solidify that into a definite relationship. He'd certainly been a lot more interesting since he'd got back from whatever had happened on the training mission he'd been on; more mature and confident in himself. There were rumours he'd seen some real action, too, though of course he refused to talk about it. The list of recommendations from high-ranking members of the navy in his file – and the classification on why they were there and what he had done to impress two fleet Admirals and an Investigation team leader – certainly seemed to bear out that whatever had happened, it had probably been impressive.

So absorbed was she in her thoughts that she almost missed the fact that the kitchen was occupied as she pushed the door open. It was only a flash of bright orange movement in the corner of her eye that drew her attention to the little girl standing on tiptoe to more easily reach the countertop as she poured some sort of brightly coloured cereal into a bowl. She was dressed in what looked like a school uniform, with her hair tied into neat beribboned pigtails, and was humming to herself cheerfully. At the sound of the door opening, she spun around, still holding the box.

A short pause followed as young woman and young child took each other in. The little girl broke it.

"I know _you_," she accused. "You're the girl Tiida was with last night. Ke... Keva..."

"Just Kevvy will do. And you're his little sister, right? Teana."

"Uh huh," agreed Tea, nodding agreeably. Then she stopped, and glared. "But you're not allowed my cereal!" She hugged the box protectively. "It's mine! The last girl who came around here with Tiida took some of mine, and I'm only allowed a new box every three weeks, so I had to eat Tiida's boring yucky cereal for _three whole days_. So you're not allowed to steal this one! It's mine, see!"

And indeed, the front of the box had been scribbled over with the words 'Belongs to Tea, dont touch' in big capital letters. Kevvy, however, was more interested in the other thing Tea had said. "Last girl? When was that?" Tiida had never mentioned a girlfriend. Then again, it could just be a study partner or something.

"Months ago," said Tea, scowling. Evidently, she still hadn't forgiven the trespass. "She had green hair and she came around with Miss Rizu when I had to go stay with their mummy, and she was really cool at first, but then she took my cereal! But Miss Rizu told her off for it and said that it was mine and she shouldn't have done that without me even having to say so! I like Miss Rizu, she's nice. Tiida likes her too. Oh, and you're not allowed my milk either! It's the one with the purple top, and it's just right for me, and if you take it I'll be really mad! It's _ blackcurrant_!"

Kevvy was just beginning to parse this when the kitchen door opened again, and a rumple-haired, Tiida entered the room, rubbing his eyes tiredly. His shirt was noticeably absent, and Kevvy's eyes made a quick circuit of his bare chest with definite interest. Yum.

When her eyes drifted up to his expression, though, her good mood vanished. The young lieutenant's face was grim, and he looked even more exhausted than most of a night's missed sleep should have made him. It was a combination that usually followed bad news, in her experience. He nodded to her in greeting, and started to say something that was interrupted before he got the first word out.

"_Tiida!_"

Both adults winced at the volume and pitch of Tea's indignant shout. She finished stowing her cereal in one of the lower cupboards and rounded on him, stomping her foot angrily. "I told you you're meant to wear clothes around the house, you look all yucky and half-dressed and weird-haired!" She sighed dramatically. "Honestly, do I have to look after you all by myself? And another thing! You came back _late _last night! Do you know what time it was when you came in the door? Do you? It wasn't even night-time anymore! It was so late it was early again! You woke me up!"

Tiida pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. "Tea..." A vague motion with his other hand summoned a Jacket and he walked over to the sink to pour himself a glass of water, which he drained with evident relief.

Then he turned back to his little sister and knelt down in front of her, taking her hands. She finally seemed to catch onto his mood, and fell silent.

"I'm sorry, Tea," he started, and the nervous weight in Kevvy's gut intensified. That was never a good start to a serious talk.

Tea blinked up at him for a moment, as a cast of... something, slid across her face. It seemed to mingle comprehension, a strange sort of maturity and resignation. She nodded slowly, the corners of her mouth turning down as her shoulders fell.

"You have to go away again, don't you?" she asked sadly. Tiida winced and opened his mouth to reply, but she carried on over him. "And it's going to be for a while, because you always get sad and sorry when you have to go away for more than a week." She spoke with no anger or resentment, just a sad kind of understanding, as if it were merely a fact of life to her that sometimes her brother left her alone; one she'd long ago accepted.

Tiida sighed, and bowed his head in assent. "Yes, I'm afraid so. And... and they said they had no idea how long it was going to be this time, and I just can't move you again. Not when it might only be for a few weeks."

"I'm going to have to stay in the care place again?" Tea asked, looking down. She forced herself to smile. "Well, at... at least I'll get to stay at the same school with my friends. That's... that's a good thing. And since you're the big hero, that... that means it's important, right?"

He sighed, rubbing his eyes. "A situation's come up on Pihroea, one that's probably connected to... to UA-97. They're calling in everyone who has experience there." He shot a warning glance at Kevvy, cutting off the questions she was brimming to ask with a wordless _'later.'_

"J... just promise me you'll be okay?" Tea asked, vulnerability creeping into her voice. "You... you have to pr-promise me really, really hard you won't get hurt like... like last time. You have to!"

Tiida engulfed her in a hug. "I promise," he swore, drawing back, "that I will be as careful as I can be, and that I will absolutely come back. In time for your birthday, even. I'll bring Rizu and Mei around and you can play with them again, does that sound good?" Tea nodded slowly, though she still looked frightened. Her birthday wouldn't be for another four and a half months, though, so it was a promise he was almost certain he could keep.

"And Rizu will be there as well, and she's a healer, remember?" he prompted, hoping to get her mind off the thought of him being injured. "She already healed me the first time, and I bet she's got better since then. So I'll be perfectly safe, and you don't have to worry. Okay?"

She nodded again tremulously, and then hugged him, wrapping her arms round his chest and squeezing as hard as she could, eyes tight shut and buried in his shoulder. "You'd better," she muttered quietly. "I don't wanna lose my big brother too."

He held her a moment longer, before she squirmed out of his grip, dried her eyes off on her sleeve, and picked up her discarded and forgotten bowl of cereal. "I have to get to school soon," she said, trying to control her voice and doing – in Tiida's opinion – a pretty good job of it. "I should have breakfast before it's too late and I have to go."

He nodded, and stood aside as she went about retrieving milk and a spoon for herself, moving quietly over to where Kevvy was hovering halfway through the doorframe, embarrassed and attempting to give them some privacy. _'I can't tell you any details,' _he pre-empted her _'I don't know many myself, other than the location and the reason I'm being called in.'_

Pursing her lips, she nodded, and glancing over at him. He wasn't looking at her, focused instead on Tea. _'She's usually a handful, but she can be so responsible at times like this... it still startles me occasionally,' _he admitted ruefully. _'It's not fair.'_

_'Not fair that she has to be, or not fair that you're not around enough to know her better?'_ she asked. She didn't have any siblings, so she couldn't really understand how it must feel, but she could certainly sympathise with the guilt he was clearly feeling.

_'Both,' _he shrugged, sighing. Then he turned to her, something else rising to the front of his mind. _'Kevvy, about last night...'_

Way ahead of you, she was tempted to say. But he was trying to be kind about it, and she at least owed him politeness, so she just nodded. _'It was fun,' _she said instead. _'I enjoyed myself. A lot, actually.' _A faint chuckle broke through, despite herself. _'You know how to show a girl a good time, I'll give you that.'_

They stood there a moment longer, in awkward silence. Then, she sucked in a breath and took the plunge, knowing what was coming. _'When will you be leaving?'_

_'Within the next day or two. Probably on a sprinter flight headed towards Suionetheod, or the next sector capital in from it. Then a few hard days of teleporting to get to Pihroea.' _He sighed. _'Kevvy... I enjoyed last night as well, I really did. But I don't... I think it should be a one-time thing.' _He looked over, apologetically. _'With Tea to handle, and this mission coming up now, I just don't think I can...'_

_'Yeah. I understand.'_

Breakfast in the Lanster household that day was a quiet one, each member absorbed in their thoughts and fears on what was coming.

* * *

...

* * *

Bored.

Bored bored bored.

Bored bored bored bored _bored_.

There was, Nanoha had discovered, actually very little for a person to do when recovering from a broken hand and injured ribs. Well, no. That wasn't strictly true. There was plenty to do. It was just that... well, it was all boring.

For instance, she could resort to her usual pastime when she had little better to do; running simulations and reading on Raising Heart. Except she couldn't, because it was damaged, and Linith had sneakily secreted the Device away somewhere – that wasn't in her room – while it repaired itself. And trying to run a search spell for it had earned a ten-minute lecture on not overstraining herself. Again. Nanoha privately suspected the reason it had failed was that the little ruby gem was on Linith's person somewhere, and that's why she wasn't concerned about leaving Nanoha to her own devices. Because _she _had Nanoha's own Device! Vesta would have been outraged at the sneakiness of it. Well, outraged or impressed.

She shook her head, trying to put aside that thought. She kept expecting Vesta to come in – that was another thing she usually filled her time with. There wasn't much better for killing a few hours than playing with her familiar. But Vesta wasn't here either. She was still a week away, and couldn't even send messages while she was en route. There was no help coming from that quarter.

Other things to do... she could read! Reading was always a possibility. Sadly, all of her _interesting _reading material was on Raising Heart. What was left around the apartment were books and magazines that were either dry, dull or both dry _and _dull.

She had read them all anyway. They lasted about a day and a half.

That had left her with even less to do, as well as a headache. Another thorough scouring of the room turned up a slightly battered Go set. Unfortunately, by the time she discovered it, Linith had left on some sort of super-secret cat business, so she had nobody to play with except herself. And that was slightly hindered by the fact that she... uh... wasn't very good at it.

It should really be illegal for this much boredom to happen to one person, she decided.

She had counted how many tiles there were on the ceilings of each room. Twice. As well as how many pictures and pieces of furniture there were. She'd spent long hours staring out of the windows, wondering if the red knight she'd fought was going after other innocent people out there in the city. She'd picked apart the spells that Linith had placed on her arm – both paralysis and healing, though she didn't think she could manage either without Raising Heart to help – and she'd started to phone Suzuka or home at least a dozen times each, though Linith's admonishment to keep her head down had so far prevented her from actually making the calls.

Linith had said that when she got back from whatever it was she was doing, she would let Nanoha go out and meet mama and Suzuka and Arisa again. But she had been away for hours already, and Nanoha didn't think she'd be back anytime soon. Which meant she still had hours. And hours. And hours. Of being _bored_.

She wasn't angry about being hurt, or looking for revenge. She wasn't 'raring to go and get herself hurt again', no matter what Linith said. And she wasn't... _that _creeped out about the week-long silence, with no sign of their enemy or messages from Precia and the others.

She just... she just wished that something would _happen_.

* * *

...

* * *

Out on a barren plain, sand roared upwards through fire and fell again as a rain of molten glass. Huge, carapaced coils thrashed and flailed, and a death rattle came from a ridge of blade-like plates that lined the back of the enormous serpentine creature that was locked in combat with a tiny, implacable foe.

A deafening screech echoed out over the landscape.

The beast was awake, injured and angry. These facts were connected. It was not a terribly intelligent creature, despite the size of its brain, and knew only that it had been slumbering, and then had come heat and pain and something that was not-prey not-mate not-rival.

The sand-wyrms of Pihroea were apex predators in the desert that was their natural environment. The concept of 'predator' held no meaning to them. But this one was beginning to learn it nonetheless.

It struggled on anyway. Rearing up, its serrated tongue-tendrils lashed out to snare its tiny foe and pull them back into its jaws. A moment later it reared back, screaming, as they were severed near the tips and cauterised by the burning sword the figure wielded.

Signum's face was impassive as she avoided another enormous clash of the wyrm's jaws, save for a faint frown. This level of fighting wasn't difficult – to be honest, it was more a chore than anything. What it _was _was time consuming. The wyrms weren't much of a threat to her – they were so huge that they moved comparatively slowly, and telegraphed their motions so far in advance that they might as well have been shouting them out for the world to hear. But the same size that made them slow and cumbersome when not beneath the sand also made them incredibly tough, and it took a while even for her to wear one down to exhaustion.

They also had an annoying habit of trying to get away when first roused, but Zafira was quite adept at stopping that. Generally by punctuating its path through the sand with bright white spikes whenever it tried to dive. It had only taken one or two attempts for it to scream in rage and rise up to attack the two of them full-on, which was just as they wanted it.

Still, despite her seeming stoicism, Signum couldn't help but feel a little distaste at what she was doing as she ducked and dived around its wild snaps. This was no way to fight, attacking a defenceless animal – well, a dumb animal, at least – in its sleep, then harassing it until it fell. This was not honourable, or worthy of a Cloud Knight's sword.

It was, however, an efficient way of gathering Linker Cores for Hayate. And that took precedence, no matter what her personal feelings on the matter were. She sighed, avoided another crash of the huge, beak-like jaws, and counted the glowing anchor points Zafira was littering its hide with while it spent its attention on her. Thirteen. Three more would probably suffice, and he would have those in a few more seconds. She ducked lazily under a serrated tongue – every inch of the creature was armoured in rough scales that probably felt like a wood rasp to bare flesh, if not worse – and struck again with Laevatein. The sword broke apart into its chain-linked Schlangeform, extending out to catch the wyrm a vicious cut across the head that left a scorched score-mark down the angled carapace. It roared again and bit at her, but she slipped in easily under it and made for the throat, pulling the sword back into its base form and sheathing it. Mana pulsed as the sheath compressed it, the power shooting up to oppressive levels as she loaded a cartridge.

_'Zafira,' _she ordered.

_'Ready,' _came the reply, and she brought her sword round into the familiar stance as she closed in.

[Fliegender Drachenblitz!]

Flames exploded from the sheath in impossible volume as she drew and swung in a smooth and practiced motion, the attack slamming home into a weakness between plates under the creature's jaw with the force of a point-blank bombardment spell. The impact was literally bone-shaking, sending the wyrm reeling backwards to crash down upon the sand as Signum kicked upwards to gain height. Its massive body slammed into the desert surface, sending gouts of sand up to be caught by the wind and cloud the air. Zafira was there immediately, wreathing it in chains and tying the anchors on its hide to those he'd placed on the ground. Interlocking spikes formed a collar beneath its head, and though it thrashed and writhed furiously, it couldn't get free.

It could, however, still resist enough that extracting its Linker Core would be difficult. Her face a mask of dispassion, Signum flipped her sword around, and brought together the hilt and its scabbard.

[Bogenform!] Laevatein announced, and the two halves fused, their centre of mass shifting backward as the Armed Device rotated into its archery configuration.

Conjuring a shaft of fire between her fingers, Signum notched it on the mighty recurve and drew, sighting down the flickering length to the struggling creature below. Zafira, knowing what was coming, had long since vacated the line of fire.

Or rather, the cone of fire. Which was a rather appropriate term, really.

[Fallender Glutregen.]

The arrow left the bow... and fractured, into hundreds of tiny pieces. And then, somehow, it kept on fracturing, every droplet of flame budding, multiplying, generating more and more siblings for itself until the sky beneath her was a conical inferno. And every bolt of fire streaked down, slamming into thick, chitinous armour or loose desert sand, scorching or melting whatever they hit. Unlike all of her jousting with the enormous creature so far, this wasn't a single attack, or even a flurry of attacks. It was nothing less than a sustained _bombardment_, hammering it into the ground with flame and magic, every impact another heated brand upon its flesh, another blow to the spine. Sand hissed and fused into glass, desert scrubs caught light and burned merrily, tiny pockets of moisture hissed into steam. It seemed to go on forever.

And then, finally, it was over. The wyrm wasn't dead – she could see that it was still breathing, albeit slowly and unevenly, the toughness of its hide and its adaptation to the desert meant that fire posed little threat to its life. But it was still and silent, no longer moving. The flames and heat may not have put it down on their own, but the magical bombardment that had accompanied them had definitely knocked the fight out of the groaning leviathan.

All that was left now was to finish the job, and already, Zafira was moving in with the Book's gathering-simulacra, like a carrion-beast closing in on a corpse. The glowing light of the wyrm's Linker Core began to leech out of it like lifeblood flowing from a mortal wound...

Signum paused for a moment and shook her head, rejecting that analogy. The unpleasantness of this work was starting to get to her, in a way that it wouldn't have done a few cycles ago. Hayate's influence, no doubt. But it was still necessary, no matter how distasteful. Hayate's health came first. Before anything else.

No matter what.

And with that thought in mind, she swooped down to help her comrade.

Some considerable distance away, a woman with hair a few shades darker than the sand around her lowered a pair of perfectly mundane, non-magical binoculars and edged further down behind the dune she lay on. Indeed, she wasn't just on it, but partially buried in it, the sand covering most of her body below the neck. With eyes narrowed against the sun's glare, she surveyed the melted sand, the still-burning bushes and scrub, and the sluggish form of the great wyrm itself. Its residual twitches were dying away as it gave in to exhaustion and trauma and began to slowly retreat deep beneath the sands to recover.

She raised the binoculars again, staring at the pink-haired woman and the white-haired man as they conferred briefly over an object the latter carried. Then they vanished, with a teleport signature so faint that she could barely detect it even when she was looking at it. That drew a scowl. It had been hard enough to find them once, and only possible due to the mana their battle was giving off. Even then, it had been mostly luck that she was looking in roughly the right place at the right time. Tracking them back to their base would be nigh-impossible, if they were this good.

A few more minutes passed. Then, cautiously, Linith emerged from her hiding place and took stock of the battlefield once more. She approached the area the monsters and mages – or perhaps just monsters of different ilks – had been fighting in, with a wary eye for traps. She sniffed the air experimentally, then called up the grainy, expanded image of the object the two had been conferring over and spent some time examining it again in minute detail.

Eventually, she reached a conclusion and spoke, more to herself than the depleted wildlife around her.

"Damn."

* * *

...

* * *

A typhoon howled on Pihroea. The storm had rolled in off the ocean, quenching the heat and drowning the dry earth. The dried out rivers ran with water for the first time in months. The wind picked the water off the surface of the saturated ground, carrying mud and grime with it to paint whatever it touched.

Warrant Officer Quint Nakajima sighed, and looked back over the ruined TSAB training facility. Within the safety of the interdiction barrier, the weather was prevented from contaminating the crime scene, but the howl of the wind and the thrumming patter of the rain against the heat haze of the ward was disheartening.

"Nothing," she said. "Not a wretched, miserable thing. Zero, zip, nothing, nulla, nope, negative."

"That was to be expected," Zest said beside her, huddled up in his cloak. "I didn't think the people before us would really have missed anything obvious, and it's been more than a fortnight. But we still had to look. And I have my own thoughts, having seen it from the ground.

The woman slumped down on a folding chair, arms crossed. "What do you have?" she asked, "because... I got nothing of use from this place."

Zest squatted down, spreading his hands to bring up a hologram of the facility. "Well, for one, having seen it in person I'm now almost certain that the entire attacking force began inside the grounds," he said. "There was no assault. Which means... I strongly suspect that we are specifically dealing with a small, elite team here who was responsible for it. Possibly stowaways on the Ravi. They can't have teleported in, because that would have been caught on the cache." He paused, cocking his head. "Well, unless they back-ended a pre-existing access request," he corrected himself. "We'd need to check for that."

"They wiped the main computer banks. Just smashed them to pieces, and then fried them," Quint said sullenly. "What's the point? The cache won't have enough to tell that."

"It might," Zest said with a shrug. "Either way, I strongly suspect they went for the Ravi first. Sensible tactic. If you didn't lock down the ship first, you'd risk it escaping and you'd need to damage it to stop that. Not to mention that cargo ships like that have basic point defence; enough to keep them safe when landed. We'll have to wait until the forensic reports come back, but I suspect we'll find out that the Ravi was one of the things shooting at the base. Likewise, from the way that there's no sign of an engagement beyond the perimeter, I think it's likely that the attackers had a powerful support mage who could shunt the entire area into a barrier. The thing which doesn't fit with that is the lack of a record of a barrier, but... hmm, we do know they had control of the sensor systems by that point."

"There's just not enough evidence to say anything," the woman said, slumped down. "We're out at the back-end of nowhere, the scene was already contaminated by the time we got here, and..."

A junior Ground Forces officer, wrapped up in a warm Jacket, approached the two of them with a hint of nervousness in her manner. "Captain Ladislao is just having a ten minute status update over in the main tent on the hour, before we turn in for the night," the olive-skinned woman said, her dark eyes gleaming in the light, "and requests that you join him. He welcomes any contributions."

Zest inclined his head. "We'll be there," he said, glancing at Quint and her scowl. He waited until the younger woman had left before stepping to stand in front of Quint, hands on hips. "Quint," he said, warningly.

"Yes?" she replied, not meeting his eyes.

"Quint," the man said, dropping his voice. "Are you going to be able to keep your mind on the mission?"

"I'm fine," she said, grimacing, eyes drifting over to the storm outside. "It's just I'm exhausted from the teleporting here, and... and I'll be better when I get a proper rest."

"Don't lie to my face," Zest said. He sighed, and leant back against the wall. "You're not fine, and if you were fine, there would be something wrong with you. I know how much it meant to you, and I know you didn't want to end up all the way over here when you bl... when it's linked to bad memories." He paused. The man was not entirely at home with situations like this. It was not a problem which could be solved with appropriate amounts of violence. "Do you want to... say anything?" he asked, uneasily.

Quint looked at him, her lips in a thin line. "I'll be fine," she insisted, her expression putting a lie to her words. "Really. I... it's not like I have any other children who can be kidnapped, that they can... can just vanish with nothing on the security and no one seeing anything odd and... and zero evidence of who did it. It's like they melted into the walls, the way they could vanish on a perfectly normal trip to the hospital. And it happens just when I'm away, like... like whatever was responsible was just waiting for me to be out of the picture, off in this wretched dead-end district, so it's my fault for not being able to protect those little girls, that I couldn't be their mother, show them that they were more than just experiments and... and..."

The man awkwardly wrapped his arms around her, and let her choke out words into his Jacket.

"I'm not crying," Quint managed, after a while. "It's just the rain. The rain which... which is getting through the wards." She frowned, some trace of a professional demeanour returning along with a frown.

"We'll have to point out at the meeting that the barrier is leaking," Zest said, neutrally. "Or rather, I will. You should go; get some rest. You're clearly just exhausted from the travel, nothing more. As you said, it's not like we have much evidence. Tomorrow we can go interview the groups which have suffered the linker core draining attacks, all right?"

She nodded tiredly, and turned to trudge off. Zest frowned as he watched her go, and shook his head with a muttered curse.

Outside the barrier, the rain hammered down, raging on into the night. Monsoon season was well and truly started.

The real brunt of the storm, though, had yet to strike.

* * *

...


	5. Chapter 4

Whoops. I dun goofed.

Correct chapter is up now.

* * *

"Mistress!"

Twenty kilograms of distraught, tearful, six-year old catgirl hit Nanoha full in the chest, sending her back onto her pillows with an "oof!" as Vesta began frantically patting her down for any injuries other than the obvious cast on her arm and babbling at her so fast that Nanoha could barely understand her.

"Mistress mistress mistress! I was really worried it's been ages since I've seen you and look you got a broken arm because I wasn't with you and I _said _this was a bad idea and look I was right and I told you so and I was lonely without you and we've never been apart that long and I never want to be again because look you got hurt without me and..."

"Vesta... Vesta! Hush!" Fending off the assault, Nanoha finally managed to cradle Vesta's face with her functional hand and put a thumb over her lips. "I'm happy to see you too. And I'm sorry I got hurt." She smiled sheepishly. "I guess I should have brought you with me after all, huh?"

Vesta didn't smile along with the joke, though. She just looked up at Nanoha through big, tear-stained eyes, her lips trembling. "I was really scared," she admitted, her voice catching, and Nanoha winced. Gathering the smaller girl to her, she awkwardly turned her around so that she had her back to Nanoha and then put both arms around her, hugging her tight. It wasn't the most comfortable position, with her right forearm still in a rigid magical cast. But Vesta's trembling slowed down nonetheless, and she huddled her face into the crook of Nanoha's neck, muttering something completely inaudible but apparently heartfelt.

"I'm sorry, sweetie," Nanoha whispered, stroking her hair. It was easy to forget sometimes that Vesta wasn't even a year old, chronologically. Normally she acted like a sister to Nanoha – how much younger, she couldn't say, but not too much. Alicia had certainly adopted her as an older sister figure, and Vesta looked after her with complete seriousness and surprising responsibility, for all that they played around. But underneath that, she was still very young and not very experienced, and had never been apart from Nanoha for more than a day. No wonder she had taken the long separation badly.

Nanoha blinked, as she realised she was drifting off again – daydreams and idle thoughts had been a necessity just to survive almost a solid fortnight of crushing boredom, but now probably wasn't the time. Absently fiddling with Vesta's silken scarf, she looked up at the door to her room and greeted her other, more restrained visitors with a smile.

"Arf, Fate. Um... hi."

The other familiar snorted. "'Hi'? That's all you have to say for yourself?" She motioned to Nanoha's arm, scowling in a way that was only half-playful. "What's this meant to be?! Don't just 'hi' us, explain yourself!"

"Uh..."

Fate saved her from having to justify her actions by walking over and perching on the side of the bed. "Alicia will be through once she's done hugging Linith," she explained quietly. "And I think Mother wanted to talk to her after that, so she'll be a little while. Are you alright?"

"I'm... okay, I guess," Nanoha replied after a moment's thought. Without thinking, she rubbed her cast. "My arm is nearly better, and I got to see my family before Linith shut me in here and told me to rest. And mama got the Device back from Arisa – it's still broken, but it works for comms – so we've been talking every so often." Fate smiled, happy for her, and reached over to squeeze her hand lightly.

"They're doing well?"

Nanoha hesitated slightly at that, because being hospitalised couldn't really be called 'well', and Arisa still wasn't out of hospital. "They're... not any worse," she temporised. "Mama is feeling a lot better, and she sent me a new phone – just the same as my old one, too! – so that I could talk to Suzuka and Arisa a couple of times. Arisa, uh. Shouted at me. A lot." She grinned sheepishly. "I guess I need practice on my brilliant rescues?"

Fate patted her hand. "A bit more practice would be good, yes," she agreed. "Especially if it stops you from breaking anything else." She gave Nanoha a tiny smile. "We were all very worried on the way here. It's good to see you're alright."

Nanoha looked down, and tried not to squirm with guilt.

Arf had shifted forms and approached the bed as they spoke. Settling herself by the side of the bed and allowing Fate to shift her feet up onto her back, she sniffed at Nanoha's arm, muzzle wrinkling slightly as she gave the canine equivalent of a frown. _'Well, it smells alright.' _she remarked. _'When will the cast come off?'_

"Ah... Linith said that if my check-up shows it's healed properly, I can take it off tomorrow."

"Good!" a new voice interrupted. "Because once you're better, we need to find the meanie-heads who did it and tell them off!"

Alicia stamped into the room, blonde hair flowing after her in a state of disarray that clearly hadn't seen a comb recently. She pointed an accusing finger at Nanoha. "You're not allowed to get hurt anymore!" she mandated. "So don't! Or I'll tell you off! And then I'll... I'll get _Linith _to tell you off even worse! Understand?"

Nanoha raised a finger to point out that Linith had, in fact, already told her off exhaustively and at length, before shutting her in a dreary little room for almost a fortnight without anything to do except be soul-crushingly bored, but Alicia continued talking over her before she could even get a word out.

"And Vesta was really worried about you as well! Really _really _worried! She cried at night! I had to cuddle her to sleep!"

"D-did not!" objected Vesta, from just below Nanoha's chin. Her ears quivered, tickling her mistress' nose. The denial was somewhat spoiled by the sniff that followed it, though. "And... and you were b-being just as worried!" she added defensively, apparently aware of this lapse.

"Was not!" Alicia shot back. "I was comforting you!"

"Were so!"

"Was not!"

"Were- Linith!"

"Huh?" Alicia blinked. "What about Linith?" She shook her head without giving Vesta a chance to answer, and returned to her original topic. "And I was not! You were the one being all sad and kitten-y!" She paused and tilted her head, her expression one of serious thought. "Though I guess kittens aren't always sad," she added. "I mean, I don't see why they would be. I wouldn't be sad, if I was a kitten. Having a tail and ears would be really cool. I could waggle them and hear stuff really well! And turn invisible!"

A maternal hand ruffled her hair from behind, making her jump. "And look adorable, I have no doubt," Linith smiled, and rolled her eyes indulgently at Alicia's squawk of protest. "But debates about what species you are will have to wait for now. I've told Precia everything we've gathered so far. And we have the beginnings of a plan."

* * *

...

* * *

It took about half an hour for all of the possibilities, probabilities and potentials to be explored.

"Okay, so we're basically pretty sure it's the Book of Darkness," Arf eventually summed up, once the various theories and counter-arguments began to repeat themselves. "So we'll assume that for now. That means the Wolkenritter, and _that _means we need to try and catch one alone if we want to have any chance of winning."

She sat hunched forward at the small table, staring at the sketchy map of the local region of Dimensional Space that hovered over it, courtesy of Linith. Fate fidgeted next to her familiar, leaning into her and resting her head on Arf's shoulder. Nanoha, by constrast, was sitting awkwardly with a still-cast arm and had Vesta occupying her lap. Alicia had been allowed to attend, on the basis that the hotel suite only had two rooms and the door wasn't thin enough to stop her eavesdropping, but had been consigned to the sofa with a puzzle to try and occupy her attention. It wasn't working.

"We know they hunt," offered Nanoha, raising her broken arm as evidence. "And they do it alone, if the one I met was any judge. We could catch them while they're doing that."

"How?" Arf scratched her head. "That's the thing, they probably hunt all over the world. All over multiple worlds. How do we pin them down?" She stared off into space for a moment, thinking hard. "Well... there are three ways to hunt. You either go to where you know your prey will be and ambush them, or you lay out bait and wait for them to come get it, or," she smirked, "you find somewhere they've been and track them from there to wherever they are now."

"The latter, I am afraid, will not be feasible," Precia pointed out, deflating Arf's smirk abruptly. "The Wolkenritter are far too apt at concealing their presence for tracking them to be a simple matter. Linith has already attempted to trail them back to their home base. If she has had no success in two weeks, I very much doubt it will be possible for us to do at all."

Nanoha glanced across at Linith, surprised. "So that's where you were going when you left me on my own!" she accused. "And after you told me it was too dangerous to! You... that's not fair! You can't do that! That's like the thingie where you say not to do something and then do it anyway!"

"I think you mean 'hypocrisy', dear," Linith corrected her. "And it was not, because I kept my distance, took full precautions to avoid notice, did not try to follow them until they had left, and had absolutely no intention of doing anything other than passively observing. You, I am sure, had rather different goals in mind, did you not?"

Nanoha suddenly became very interested in the spikey mess of Vesta's hair, and set herself to busily attempting to comb it down. If anyone heard a faint mumble of "still hypocrisy," as she attacked the grey-black tangle, they had enough tact not to comment on it.

"I like the waiting and pouncing option," Vesta offered into the brief silence. "We just figure out where there's lots of magic for them, then wait there, and then graargh! Pounce, and get them! Right?"

Linith shook her head. "Wrong, I'm afraid," she said. Vesta's ears wilted, flattening back against her skull. "I'm sorry, sweetie, but there's just too much space to cover. We could wait by the same spot for weeks without any guarantee they would go there. By the same token, there's no certainty they'd detect any bait we laid, unless it was powerful enough that it would probably catch the attention of the TSAB as well."

Fate tilted her head and raised a hand tentatively. "We could do both," she suggested. "Find somewhere they're likely to frequent, and lay bait there. Something like magical flares, as if someone was practicing. And... that means they're less likely to be suspicious, because... it'll be somewhere they've found magic before?" She tailed off at the end, almost more questioning than qualifying, and looked nervously at Precia for approval.

The older woman was resting her chin on a pale, thin hand, her lips pursed. Slowly, she nodded. "It... has potential," she said slowly. "Though still a relatively low chance of success. However, a combination of activity analysis and bait should grant better odds on a successful encounter." She drummed her fingers on the table, mind racing. "We should also consider the fact that _they _are likely looking for us, or at least for Nanoha and Linith. Opposition, this far out in the backwaters, will not be something they are used to in this incarnation. Successful opposition much less so."

"I wasn't..." began Nanoha, but Precia cut her off with a sharp wave of her free hand.

"You fought one of the Cloud Knights in a confined area, damaged it and escaped alive and undrained," she interrupted flatly. "You were successful, far more so than most mages they fight. Additionally, you revealed that you have a connection with the girl they attacked." She held up her hand again in a calming gesture as Nanoha's eyes went wide and she shot to her feet. Vesta squawked as she fell off her comfortable lap-seat. "Calm, be _calm_, Nanoha. They have drained her already, and she is no threat to them. They will have no further interest in her for her own sake, they are efficient beyond all else. But they may well realise, that she is a potential vector they can use to find you." She pursed her lips again. "We may be able to use that against them. Hmm. It certainly couldn't hurt to spread some false information."

"I'm not sure I like the idea of lying to Arisa..." said Nanoha dubiously as she sat back down and allowed Vesta to grumpily reclaim her seat. "Or using her at all like this, really. It feels like... I don't know, like not playing fair." She frowned. "I don't like lying to people. And I don't like using people, either. We should be better than that."

Glances were exchanged around the table. Fate squeezed Nanoha's hand and opened her mouth to say something, but Vesta beat her to it.

"Oh no you don't, mistress!" Extracting herself from Nanoha's arms, the apparent six-year old clambered around until she was sitting on the table facing Nanoha, right in front of her. She scowled theatrically, hands on her hips. "This is sneaky stuff, and that's what I'm here for! I'm really good at sneaky stuff, and you're not, so I have to do sneaky-thinking for you! That's what a familiar is for! And as your familiar, I'm saying this is a _good plan! _It's like when I growl and wiggle my tail at the squeaky toy so it thinks I'm going to pounce straight at it, but then ha! I jump round to the side and pounce on it from there, and it can't get away from me, because I'm not where it thinks I'll be! This is basic sneakiness... ness! So you have to listen to people who know it better than you do, like me!"

There was a brief, rather confused pause as Nanoha digested this, broken only by Arf's quiet grumble of "I don't think your squeaky toys are S-ranked Belkan knights, Vesta," which earned her a glare and a stuck-out tongue from the catgirl. But eventually, Nanoha nodded slowly, and sighed.

"I guess," she admitted. "As long as you promise Arisa won't get hurt or anything." She looked to Linith as she said this, and was rewarded with a confident smile.

"We don't even know for sure that they'll be listening in on her," Linith pointed out. "They drain a lot of people, after all, and they drove us both off with relative ease. They may not have bothered tagging her, though I'd like you to try and remember what you told her in the conversations you have had since then." She paused, considering. "Well, if they'd traced us back here, we'd have been attacked already, so I suppose they haven't done that much, at least. Anyway, if they have bugged her, all they'll be doing is listening. And that means all you need to do is drop the right idle comment."

She leaned forward, spinning the hovering map of the region on its axis and looking over it. "So. First, we need to work out where we're going to lay our little trap. And then we need to decide exactly what we want them to overhear, and what we're going to use as bait in case they don't."

Quietly, Fate reached out and tapped the hologram, zooming in on a smaller patch of the region, closer to TSAB-controlled space than Earth. A slight smile hovered around her lips, and she raised a finger to draw attention.

"I think," she said carefully, "I have an idea about that."

* * *

...

* * *

Hayate knocked softly on the door, waited for the "c'min", and pushed it open. She wheeled in, Shamal drifting a step and a half behind her, and gave Chikaze a smile. The cancer patient was propped up in bed on a pile of pillows that was, Hayate was fairly sure, rather larger than what she was meant to be allocated. She was a little pale and had bags under her eyes, but other than that she looked well enough.

"How'd it go?" she asked in a raspy voice. "Results good?"

"Uuuuurgh," groaned Hayate, exasperation heavy in her voice. "Don't talk to me about the check-up, please. I just spent half an hour getting poked and prodded _everywhere_. I don't even want to think about medical equipment right now." She paused. "But... yeah. Well, kind of. It's not sped up again, and the rate of progression is steady, even if it is still advancing. So it's kind of like 'no news is bad news , but it's the same bad news we already gave you like six months ago, nothing's changed since then'."

She wheeled a little closer, eying Chikaze. "What about you?"

Chikaze wrinkled her nose. "I feel horrid," she said bluntly. "And nauseous and wobbly and my hair's going to fall out again, and I really, really hate these bits." She jerked her head at the intravenous drip beside her bed, threaded into her arm. "Them especially. It's basically poison they're pumping into me, you know. There's just more of me than there is the cancer, so I survive and it doesn't." She sighed. "But the doctors say that it's working well, and this might be one of the last rounds of chemo I need. S'just that it screws up my immune system as well, so while I'm on it I can't come round to your place anymore."

Hayate gave her a sympathetic look. "Too bad," she said. "I was looking forward to next time. Want me to bake some cookies or something and bring them in next time?"

Chikaze shook her head immediately. "Eugh, no. Mum and Dad already bring me all the sweets I want, and I'm not allowed sugar so it's all fake sweetener that tastes horrible." She pouted. "What I really miss is dairy stuff. And _meat_. Man, I'd kill for a beef bowl. Or... like, some kind of pasty thing just packed with cheese and beef and pork and chicken and... sorry. I'm not keeping food down too well, so I'm hungry."

Glancing back to Shamal beseechingly, Hayate found her already moving forwards, the door mysteriously shut behind her. A quick glance around confirmed that there was nobody outside, and then Shamal's hands were wreathed in green, gently resting on Chikaze's forehead and breastbone. Chikaze sighed happily as the nausea and other side effects diminished, relaxing as the healing magic soothed her belaboured system.

"Hmm," murmured Shamal, clicking the rings of Klarwind together thoughtfully. "Well, your condition obviously isn't _healthy_, given the drugs in your system, but as far as I can tell, they don't seem to be doing too much damage."

Hayate had asked, soon after finding out that Shamal could heal, if she could cure Chikaze's cancer. Both girls had been disappointed at the answer. The Knight of the Lake was a brilliant medic, but magic was not a miracle-worker. Leukaemia couldn't be simply waved away even by the best of healing mages, and she could do little that wasn't already being done by the chemotherapy. Without the authority to set the dosages, her hands were tied further. The best she could give Chikaze was relief from the side effects of the treatment, and something to take her mind off what she was going through.

To that end, she tapped the girl on the brow to get her attention, and switched to telepathy to address her. _'So,' _she inquired, _'have you been keeping up with your practice?'_

Chikaze jumped._'Ah, yes!' _she replied hastily, her telepathic voice a little faint and shaky, but audible. Raising her hands carefully so as not to get in Shamal's way and cut off the flow of healing, she concentrated. Sea-green light built around her fingers, and snaked out in a thin wire towards the window latch, wrapping itself around the small metal bar. Chikaze crooked her fingers, and with a faint 'click' the latch slid back, pulled by the faint wire from across the width of the room.

Shamal raised an impressed eyebrow. _'Very well done,' _she remarked. _'I _am _impressed. Hayate hasn't been able to get nearly so far yet. Signum might decide you're ready for that training Device soon.'_

"Shama-!" Hayate began, and cut herself off halfway. Switching to telepathy, she finished her objection. _'Shamal!' _she whined. _'That's not my fault! You said my magic was all wonky because of the Book! And that it was still draining me, so I don't even have much magic to work with! That's the only reason I'm behind her!'_

Shamal chuckled. "If you say so, mistress, then I'm sure it must be true." She cut the flow of magic and rose gracefully. "That's about enough for now, I think. You feel better?"

"Yeah, I guess," Chikaze sighed. She did feel better, but losing the healing magic still wasn't nice. As soon as it stopped, the myriad aches and pains came back – lessened and reduced to a background hum for now, but unmistakably there and waiting to build back up once again.

"Anything fun happen?" she asked, to take her mind off it. Hayate grinned and nodded cheerfully, and a small smile twitched at Shamal's lips despite herself.

"Vita _still _hasn't forgiven Zafira," Hayate explained with amused fondness, "even if she stopped trying to hammer him when I told her off. So now he keeps finding wood chips and stuff in his bed, and she switched out the sugar for his cereal with salt this morning." She sighed theatrically, though she was still grinning as she did so. "And he's taken to quoting poetry to me when she can hear. Honestly, if they go any further with this silly grudge match, I'm going to have to step in and tell them to cut it out."

"And tarnish a knight's honour? Surely not," Shamal put in. But she was smirking as she said it. "I'm sure they'll settle down eventually," she went on. "Honestly, I think part of the reason Zafira at least is taking part is that it's making you laugh more. We like to see you happy."

"Huh?" Hayate blinked, confused. "I am happy, though. I like taking care of you, you're my family. I love having you around. The last few months have been some of the happiest I remember."

Shamal ducked her head, flattered. "I know, and we appreciate it more than I can say. But even if you smile a lot, you don't laugh very often. It's mostly just with Chikaze that you take the time to... hmm... let yourself be a child. It's nice for us to watch you having fun like that."

Hayate nodded slowly, absorbing this. She opened her mouth once or twice to start a question or a comment, but hesitated before saying them. Eventually, she dismissed her train of thought with a quick shake of her head and turned to Chikaze to change the subject. "What about you?" she asked. "Has anything been happening here since we last saw each other?"

"Ha. No, nothing, as usual," Chikaze griped, but paused. "... actually no, come to mention it, there was something weird. You know you came here with Signum last time?"

"Uh huh..." Hayate scooted a little closer, intrigued. The swordswoman was fairly reticent on most matters, and any gossip about her was more than enough to rouse her interest.

Chikaze nodded, eyes grave. "When she was gone, one of the new nurses came in, and he asked if she was my _mum!_"

"_What?_" Hayate recoiled backwards, raising her hands in a warding gesture. "Eww! No! Signum? Signum can't be your mum! Signum isn't anyone's mum! Signum as a mother is, like... ultra-weird universe-gone-wrong stuff!" She glowered. "That nurse must have been crazy!"

"See, you say that, but..." Chikaze bit her lip. "... he kind of had a point. I _do _look a lot like her. She's got the same skin and hair colour as me and even her face looks a little bit similar. But she's... like, a magical alien or something. Why does she look like me? Why does she even look Japanese?"

Hayate folded her arms. "Well, they could be from space Japan," she rationalised.

Behind Hayate, Shamal – almost forgotten by the pair – made a small, thoughtful noise. Two pairs of eyes swung around to land on her as she gave Chikaze a contemplative look and nodded to herself. "That would make sense, I suppose..." she mused, more to herself than either of the girls. "And possibly explain... hmm. Though..." She lapsed into thought again for a moment, frowning slightly, and was brought back out of it by Hayate impatiently clearing her throat.

"Shamal!" she whined. "You can't just hint that you know about it like that and then not tell us! C'mon, give us an answer!"

"Hmm?" Shamal blinked and looked up at them. "Oh, yes, sorry. It's... not enormously surprising that Signum resembles your friend in this incarnation, especially given how the two of you met. You said she saved your life?"

Twin nods were her reply, along with a shared glance and shiver between the girls at the memory of that awful day. Hayate had never explained the entire sequence of events that night to her Wolkenritter, only the rough outline – partly because she hadn't really been fully conscious for much of it, and mostly because she didn't really like thinking about it. But the general outline had been sketched out, interspersed by the occasional ultra-serious order regarding the living dead and the necessity that should any reveal themselves, they should be sought out and destroyed.

Shamal waited for them to look back to her before continuing. "We are your knights," she said, calmly, "and you give us our forms as well as our armour. Your mind shaped our looks to whatever your subconscious thought would best serve our roles." She smiled teasingly. "So when it went to create Signum, it gave you her role as a knight, a Blade, a powerful right hand to cut down your enemies and destroy those who threaten you."

She nodded towards Chikaze, the teasing smile becoming a warm one. "Apparently, Hayate thinks very highly of you. You saved her, and so you were the strongest association that leapt to her mind when given that role. So Signum ended up with pink hair, and looks a little like you."

Chikaze looked uncertain over whether to blush, be flattered or tease. Hayate had no such dilemma, and was turning a bright shade of red, resolutely looking anywhere in the room other than her friend. Shamal covered her smile with a hand and continued, giving them something else to focus on. "Myself I can understand – I think you may have thought of some of your nurses, and maybe your mother. My hair looks similar to hers, in the pictures you still have. And Zafira... well, he's a bodyguard and a defender, it's far from the first time he's been fairly big and strong. But Vita... now, she's a bit of a mystery. She's normally male, and the largest of us; I honestly can't remember a time she was quite so small."

She shrugged. "Well, we've never been able to work out exactly how this works, and what our Master wants also plays a role beyond our function. And very few of our masters are quite as young as you when we instantiate. Perhaps... hmm. Perhaps you just wanted another friend your own age. A defence against loneliness, so to speak."

Hayate and Chikaze traded poker-faced looks. But they didn't get a chance to reply, for a barrage of distant shouting from down the hall distracted them. Hayate raised an inquisitive eyebrow, and Chikaze grinned.

"Heh. That's the new girl," she explained. "Some English name, starts with A. She goes off like that every so often. I think when she's on the phone or something, because she didn't have anyone else in there the last time. Though she also complained about being stuck in bed, which," she grimaced, "I can definitely identify with."

Hayate shook her head sadly. "Poor girl," she sympathised. "Maybe we could go visit her and cheer her up?"

Shamal laid a gentle hand on her shoulder. "It's a thoughtful idea," she put in, "but I'm afraid we should be getting back home. Visiting hours are nearly over, and Hayate needs to get started on dinner." She winced. "Or else Signum might start preparing steak again."

"Awww." The mistress of the Book of Darkness looked up pleadingly at her loyal servant. "I want to stay just a bit longer?" It was probably meant to be an order, but came out as a question, which withered against Shamal's placid expression. Hayate heaved a weary sigh, and pouted. "Fiiiiine," she grouched, dragging the word out sulkily. "Bye, Chikaze. See you next time."

"Assuming I haven't got fed up of the food and escaped, yeah!" Chikaze called after her. "Promise you'll shelter me if I go on the run from evil nurses!"

Already being rolled away by Shamal's gentle urgings, Hayate waved over her shoulder with a giggle. "I promise!" she called back, as the door shut behind them.

* * *

...

* * *

A new star flared into brief life in the sky of Pihroea. To those who watched with the right eyes, however, it was clearly no stellar body, nor a satellite reflecting the sunlight. The wide-spectrum white noise was characteristic and unmistakeable. A stubby, almost-spherical spaceship now hung in the void. Its conventional engines glowed as it adjusted its orbit, and then shut down as it extended sail-like boons which glowed in the infrared.

"Right on schedule," Admiral Harlaown said from her position at the bridge of the _Asura_. "Begin communications with the sprinter."

"Aye aye, ma'am," reported the on-duty comms officer. "Handshaking now. Please wait a moment... okay, reading green."

"Just as well," Lindy said, shaking her head. "Losing an obsolete transport is one thing, but losing a sprinter would be... I don't even want to think." She pressed the panel in front of her. "_BN-RTV Kalrow_, this is Flotilla Admiral Harlaown on the _BN-DV Asura_."

"_Asura_, this is the _Kalrow_," said the uniformed man on the other side of the link. "We are carrying one mobile personnel and equipment cargo hold; requesting transfer connection permission to move it to your hold."

"Permission granted," Lindy said. "Operations, prepare the transfer connection to the prepared area in Hold Two. Chrono, go greet our guests."

There would be more than enough space; for all that a sprint ship such as this one was almost the size of a dimensional cruiser, almost all of that bulk was engine and reactors. The vessel itself was unarmed and unarmoured, built for a minimum mass and surface area to volume ratio. They existed for moving elite mages and high value objects – such as Lost Logia – around quickly and safely, not comfortably, without exhausting a mage with repeated teleports. They averaged a better speed than even elite mages over long distances; partly because the vessel didn't tire in the same way that a human did, and partly because the enormous power generation capacity of those ships was enough to support microjump teleportation circuits.

Chrono made his way down to the hold. His black uniform was neatly pressed - even if he would prefer to be in his Barrier Jacket – and as he waited for the deck team to allow him in, he brushed some unseen lint off his collar. He still did not fully agree with his mother's decision to call in the team of – well, it wasn't quite fair to call them 'misfits', even if it was his personal opinion – the team of mages who had been the first backup he had received on the Jewel Seed Incident. In his opinion, the extra time they had spent locally was not going to make much of a difference; it was not as if they were real specialists on UA-97 and its inhabitants. And this could well be the Book of Darkness. If it was... a bunch of B- and C-rankers would be worse than useless, because they'd just be more linker cores to feed to the book.

But she had ordered it, and so he wouldn't let it show.

The light on the hatch flicked to green, and his ears popped as the pressure between the hold and the surrounding corridors normalised. Transfers of something as large as a modular cargo hold always shifted the pressure around.

Hands in his pockets, Chrono watched as the umbilical power cables were connected up to the power sockets on the large bright orange building-sized module, and the deck team made sure the container was talking to the Asura's systems. Just before they finished, his hands were withdrawn, and a quick-cast spell adjusted his hair. Standing to attention, he inclined his head to the weary mages who made their way out of the newly opened hatch.

"Welcome on board again," he said. "We're going to have to bring your team and you up to speed quickly."

The older man blinked at Chrono. "They're not my team anymore," he said, after saluting. "But yes, Enforcer. Lieutenant Tiida Lanster reporting." He suppressed a yawn. "Sorry, none of us have been sleeping well on the sprinter."

The very tall blonde girl next to him worked her neck. "You can say that again," Heidi Zwischenfall said, glowering. "The sleeping pods in those things are not made for people who aren't shorties. Not one bit. We're stacked like sardines in there. Where can we drop off our kit and will there be food in the briefing? They want us to get that thing emptied out quick."

Chrono swept his eyes over the others, noting with surprise that the green-silvery haired one – Mei, that had been her name – was wearing a Ground Forces uniform, rather than the Air Forces one she had last time. And that they were not alone. There was another group of mages with them, older and looking no less worse for wear. "Ah, yes," he said. "You would be the scanning specialists?"

"Warrant Officer Balani," said the blond man in the lead, "and yes. Do you know where we should have our equipment stowed? It's rather delicate and needs to not be bumped. I can't emphasise this enough. We also have something from Admiral Graham to give to Flotilla Admiral Harlaown."

"Talk with the deck staff; they'll be handling the unloading," Chrono said. "And..." his eyes widened in surprise. "You?" he asked. "What are you doing here?"

Yuuno Scrya rolled his eyes. "Oh, great," he said. "I spend a week in a cramped sprint-ship, and this is all the welcome I get. Your mother contacted me and asked me to come; I wasn't doing anything better and..." he swallowed, "well, I do know the place."

Chrono heard the muttered, "It wasn't cramped for you; ferrets fit fine in the sleeping pods," from Heidi, and ruthlessly suppressed his grin. "Well, I'll check where your quarters are," he said, with a straight face, "and then we can go to the briefing room. The Admiral wants everyone to know what we're dealing with and the roles we'll be playing."

* * *

...

* * *

The briefing room smelt noticeably of coffee and bitter chocolate, as tired mages looked for wakefulness wherever they could get it. Lindy sipped from her mug of tea, the teabag still seeping, and put it down. "Thank you all for attending," she said, by way of greeting. "Some of you I recognise from the Jewel Seed Incident six months ago; others are new. However, we have another issue on our hands – hopefully not as bad the last one – which seems to be linked to Unadministered World #97.

"Around six months ago, multiple Class 1 Lost Logia were accidentally released on UA-97. The wanted criminal, Precia Testarossa, appears to have been the one who engineered this incident, and she sent a magically-boosted clone of her deceased daughter to recover them for her. The containment and cleanup... could have gone better," Lindy admitted, to winces from a fair amount of the audience, "and as a result the Jewel Seed Incident ended with the death of M. Testarossa and her accomplices and the destruction of her Alhazredian-era base of operations in a suicidal attempt to use the Lost Logias to reach Alhazred.

"Given that multiple dimensional quakes – of a fairly small magnitude in relative terms, thankfully – were induced during the course of the incident, there was no way that it could have been hushed up entirely, though naturally attempts were made to prevent the unauthorised release of information. Sadly, I fear there was probably a leak, because recently there have been multiple attacks on TSAB citizens and members of Aligned and Unadministered worlds in this area, culminating in an assault on a TSAB training facility on Pihroea which saw the destruction of the base and the theft of a cargo ship landed at the time. All the personnel present at the base, in addition to the crew of the ship, are currently missing; we have to hope that they are still alive."

She watched the backup team exchange worried glances with one another. They were at that facility when she had called them in for the Jewel Seed Incident; they would – probably – have moved on by now, but that was a concerning thing to contemplate.

"To be blunt," she continued, "this area is a backwater. Runcorn is the nearest Administered world with any population worth speaking of, and it is almost six hundred lisecs from here. But the actions of Precia Testarossa revealed that there was at least one intact Alhazredian space station in the area, as well as Lost Logia." She saw Yuuno Scrya's hand go up. "Yes?" she asked.

"I'd just like to say that we found the Jewel Seeds out beyond UA97," he said, lips thin, "in the tomb of... well, without going into more detail, it'll suffice to say it was the leader of a breakaway faction of the Shutran Hegemons. The histories say he – it was a man – went crazy towards the end and took his armies out beyond the edge of known space... perhaps we'll never know where he found them, but the Hegemony was located towards this side of the core worlds."

Lindy nodded. "Yes. As I was just about to say, we do have evidence to suggest that there are unknown Warring States and Alhazredian-era ruins out here, and all it would take is a leak of this from anywhere in the Bureau for word to get out to criminal elements. We also cannot assume that whoever we're up against won't head for UA-97. For all we know, they might think there are some Jewel Seeds still remaining there, and even if they don't, they'll need to go there to try to backtrack the course that the Seeds took to get there.

She took another sip of tea, then folded her hands in front of her. "As a result, we will be using a two-pronged approach," she said. "While most of our forces search for the missing ship, a small covert team will establish a base of operations on UA-97, with the monitoring experts watching for the Mithra and any unauthorised teleports to the vicinity of where the Jewel Seed incident occurred. Lieutenant Lanster will be the one in charge of that team, as they have on-world experience on UA97, though Warrant Officer Balani will have full operational control of the monitoring. We do recognise the risk that whoever did this may have already moved on having already investigated the world and finding no Jewel Seeds, but we can hope that they can be caught in our net. This team will be under strict order to avoid combat and blend into the local population; if hostiles engage them their standing orders are to retreat, protecting the technical specialists, and call for emergency assistance."

"Well, I was sort of wondering why you were responding to the same mission," the older man told Tiida, "and now I know. Pleased to be working with you."

"And you," Tiida said, smiling. His face went more serious. "Admiral Harlaown? Do you have any clues as to what assaulted and captured the transport? What might we be up against?"

The admiral took a deep breath. She was not sure what the reaction to this news would be. "As it stands, we do not know who our opponents are. However, from evidence gathered on Pihroea, as well as the investigative work of Major Grangeitz over the past week, has produced some disturbing suggestions." She ceded the floor to the man, picking her mug up in both hands.

Zest was not wearing a uniform; he was still in his barrier jacket, as was the somewhat windblown Quint. They had been transferring from world to world, doing what – much as Lindy did not want to admit it – Chrono lacked the stamina for, and checking disparate population centres. They were the first representatives of the Bureau some of the worlds they were visiting had seen in decades; on a few, they had merely been placing teleport sensors on entirely uncontacted worlds. Nevertheless, compared to the fatigued travellers, he looked far too awake for anyone carrying out a punishing teleport schedule.

"Over the past four months," the investigator said bluntly, "there have been assaults and vanishings across the area. Now that our attention has been drawn to this, there have even been mysterious linker core drainings as far away as Runcorn. No one had put it together before now – whoever's doing this knows enough to pick them off during the night, using the same tactics we first discovered on Pihroea. We have no idea how many instances of this might have gone entirely unnoticed; the symptoms of core draining are similar to influenza, and no doubt many victims will have taken a week of bed rest and never reported it."

"You have to understand," Quint interjected, running her fingers through her hair, "this is really the backend of nowhere. That means that there just aren't proper healthcare facilities like you might get in the central worlds. Over half the places we checked don't do routine core checks on in-patients. You know, I looked up some population stats. If you discount UA97, Suionetheod has a larger population than everywhere within three hundred-odd lisecs of us right now. _Combined_. And UA97 has a larger population than everywhere within... like, a kilolisec combined, including Runcorn."

"That we know of," Lindy corrected. "The entire area is barely mapped; some of the maps we're using date back to before a sizeable quake. The problem is, if they've taken the _Ravi_ and gone to ground, powered it down... well, they could be hiding it anywhere on a habitable world, they could have loaded up on food and supplies and gone quiet on a moon, they could even be drifting in deep space. We just don't know."

Zest cleared his throat. "Returning to the topic at hand," he said, to nods from the two women, "there have also been disappearances similar, though not identical, to the attack on the _Ravi_. We have no hard evidence, but conferring with local authorities has revealed that some small population centres have just entirely vanished. A few remote villages, some missing farmsteads... it could be anything, but it's suspicious. We have no obvious pattern for the vanishings, though. The assault on the Pihroea facility had two clear objectives – to capture the _Ravi_ and blind our sensors in the area; we lack a similar motive for any of the other suspicious occurrences.

"However," he continued, face grave, "it is felt that there is enough evidence to confirm that there is a Harvester-type Lost Logia in use in this area. Given whoever controls it was able to take down a TSAB facility, that sets a minimum classification of Class 2, with a chance that it is Class 1." He paused. "Harvester-type Lost Logia are dangerous because they can often be subtle, at least until they have gathered sufficient mana to activate fully or their master feels they have gained enough power. This is not to be treated lightly, given the limited number of high-grade Harvesters known about, such as..."

"The Book of Darkness." The words came out as a hiss, and the source surprised Lindy. Mei Ereignis, from the backup team was staring at the start chart with her eyes narrowed into slits. Beside her, her half-sister had turned the colour of milky chocolate.

"That's the most infamous one, yes," Zest said, eyes locking on the green-silver haired girl, "but by no means the only one. There are still other Harvester Lost Logia based off the Book of Darkness out there, even though they – unlike the original – can be sealed, and that's before we get into the other types of Harvester out there. We will not be assuming that whatever we are up against is the Book unless we have more concrete evidence."

"False assumptions could come back to bite us," Quint added, "so we're not ruling anything out just yet. Don't let it get personal." She gave Mei a warning look, and after a moment's thought expanded it to Chrono as well. "I mean it. Taking this case personally will lead to you getting emotional and sloppy. And that will lead to you getting killed. We would all prefer to avoid that. Understood?"

* * *

...

* * *

A few hours later in the mess hall on the Asura, the newcomers were digging into food. They were doing so with relative enthusiasm, as it was of considerably better quality than what they had been getting on the sprinter. Despite that, the air was gloomy.

"So," Heidi said, sarcastic cheerfulness in her voice, "we're doomed. Again. I'm going to die with the A-ranking on my record still in current memory." She stabbed her fork into her meal. "You know they almost stationed us on Sveren instead of Pihroea, for that training? We'd have avoided getting into two cases full of certain doom if we'd gone there."

"We're not... doomed," Tiida said, somewhat more weakly than he would have liked. "I mean, we're simply there to be support."

"Oh, that's just wonderful," Heidi drawled. "You mean like how we were meant to just be on the Garden of Time for support? I'm sure nothing at all will go wrong when we're protecting some sensor specialists from a Class-2 Harvester, minimum, which may be the Book of Darkness itself!"

"You know," the voice came from behind them, "talking like that is a pretty big breach of OpSec."

Heidi winced, and spun, saluting Quint. "Uh... um..."

"Oh, relax," the older woman said, bringing her own stacked tray down to their shared table. "I was just here to eat, not get on your backs about it. You won't believe what all these transfers are doing to my energy intake; I'm in double food and I'm still losing weight."

"Th-that's certainly something," Rizu said, from where she had been staring at her meal. "I don't think it'll have much popularity as a diet."

Quint laughed. "Well, probably not," she admitted, scratching her cheek and sitting down. "I thought I might as well try catching up with you lot, as well as... uh, perhaps reassuring you a little about your role in this."

"I could use some reassuring," Tiida admitted. "I didn't think it would be good if I was being called all the way from Mid to here, but I didn't... well, I didn't know what to think. I really hope it isn't the Book of Darkness for real, though."

"I think we all do," Quint agreed.

"It killed my dad," Mei whispered, her hands balled into fists on her lap.

"What?"

Rizu winced, and cleared her throat. She patted her sister on the arm, who glanced at her, and nodded. "H-her dad," she began, nervously, "n-not mine, just hers... uh. Well, y-you know how last time it escaped when they tr-tried to destroy it? Uh."

"It was a massive search, across lots of planets to try to find it in the first place," Mei said, still staring at her food. "Lots and lots of people; a big, massive sweeping effort. My dad was Ground Forces; he was in a platoon which found where the master was hiding out. Just stumbled across it; they weren't expecting it." She looked up, mismatched eyes narrowed. "Well, of course they got cut to shreds. They were a Ground Forces formation; most of them were just B-rank at best, and the _lowest _ranked one of those _things _it has is a double-A. They... they said he threw himself at one of them trying to give the rest of his squad time to get away." She laughed, bitterly. "Well, he's the one I get it from. It didn't even _work_. The Book got away cleanly. It took them months to track the master down again. So it was just... pointless."

"I'm sorry," Quint offered sadly.

"I don't even remember it," Mei said, with an affected half-shrug. "Rizu remembers more of him than I do." She took a deep breath. "But with the new meds, I now get scared and... and I don't know if how I feel is worse, or... or what would probably happen if I didn't have them and... and how it would affect everyone."

"Well, firstly," the older woman said, "Admiral Harlaown meant it when she said this is purely an observational posting. Your job is to help the monitoring team blend in, keep stuff working on-world, and there's a few other minor things that need to be done, but me and Zest and Chrono are going to be the hard-hitters. If you catch something, you call us in." She cocked her head. "Though I'd rather have Megane here," she admitted, "but... eh. She'd totally have shown up with the baby, and that's not good for morale."

A weak giggle escaped from Mei and Rizu, and even Tiida smirked.

"So, how have you lot been? I have had an _awful _past six months," Quint said, nursing her cup of soup, "so, please, humour me. Mei, you said something about meds?" She peered at the girl. "So something did come out of those checks that me and Megane told you to get?"

Mei nodded, obviously forcing her darker thoughts to the back of her head. "Yeah. They took me in for checks, took blood, and then two weeks later, I found out I'm a princess."

"... oh my," Quint said, raising an eyebrow.

Heidi snorted, nostrils flaring. "You are not a princess."

"Am too! I'm totally packed with Hegemon gene-markers from my father's side!"

"That doesn't make you a princess! I'm sorry," Heidi apologised, "but she was far too smug about that on the way here."

Mei folded her arms. "Look, the Shutran Hegemony isn't around anymore, I've got the gene markers and the hair colour and the mismatched eyes, and I've got the mucked-up head which can't properly tell when to be scared. So I'm allowed to do at least that." She shrugged. "But yeah, Quint. You can check my file if you want the full details – 'cause I don't understand them – but basically, my dad's side traces back to the Shutran Hegemons, and I've got just enough of the genes to make me not quite right in the head. Though I've got a drug implant which helps with it now, and they went through my entire file and tagged 'mitigating circumstances – undiagnosed Berserker lineage' to a bunch of the black marks." She forced herself to grin. "It means it's basically spotless when it's adjusted for that," she said, gloating. "Better than Heidi's."

"Hush, you!"

"Anyway, yeah." Mei massaged the back of her neck. "See, uh... I wanted to thank you for that, actually, and also for that advice you gave me about looking into specialist training programmes. I... see, this is kind of hard. Basically, I kind of only went for the Air Force because I wanted to be with Rizu, you know? Like, I knew I needed to have her around, because Mum and her both knew I wasn't quite right. And Rizu's off at a proper medical school now with a scholarship and everything, so there was nothing really keeping me in the Air Force."

"Which one?" Quint asked.

"Uh..." Rizu bit her lip. "B-Belhausen. It's on Laroche."

"That's one of the really big ones, isn't it? Like, the famous ones?"

Rizu nodded, blushing. "The... the recommendations for the Jewel Seed Incident... uh, they were enough to get me onto the v-very limited TSAB intake they do each year. Or... uh, maybe next year, because of... of this thing."

"Good on you," Quint said cheerfully. "But... Mei, you said you looked at specialist training courses?"

"Yeah, and then I looked at you and the way you talked about how I should look for what I wanted to do, and in the end, I met someone and he recommended that I look into the Outrider specialist thing." She grinned. "I couldn't meet the power requirements to get into the CQC thing you did," she told Quint.

"Outriders?" Quint said. "Scouting and recon on low density worlds? I have to say, I didn't think you'd go for that."

"I _aced _the entrance exam," Mei said, beaming. "And the fact my file had two recommendations from admirals and one from Captain Grangeitz. It's been _amazing_. Tough as hell, and they spent all morning chasing us around and all afternoon making us study technical stuff and tracking and wildlife and living off the land and stuff, but at least it's not the Air Forces and the way they make you feel inadequate because you can't hit A-rank, no matter how hard you try. _And _I have my board with me, so I can fly with it." She looked at Quint, a trace of moistness around her eyes. "I wouldn't have managed it if you hadn't told me to get checked up," she said.

Quint smiled. "You know what? That's the best thing I've heard since the damn Jewel Seed Incident started," she said. "I'm just glad I could help." She took a sip of soup, and half-turned to the other members of the former squad. "And you?"

"Nothing so fancy," Tiida said, with a self-effacing grin. "I spent a few months getting over almost dying, and then they put me on a desk job back on Mid while I got back into shape. I was just waiting for my new placement when this whole thing came up. But I do have," he fished a blued-steel Device out of his pocket, "this. Commendations from admirals really help when you're on the waiting list for an upgrade. It's an ED-104A series; way better throughput, enhanced buffer for refire casing, Semi-Intelligent autoguard, and integrated cartridge system." He lowered his voice. "Someone said to me," he said, "that the Jewel Seed Incident is one of the reasons they're looking to roll them out more – we're the ones with the supply lines, not the rogues. Of course, others say it's the military-industrial complex just looking for some nice fat contracts to reequip the Bureau."

"Personally, I'd say it's the latter," Heidi said, drily. "But I've benefitted from it, too. Scraped my A-rank exam... raw power's my problem, but managed to make it onto the Designated Aerial Marksman programme. We all got issued shiny new Cartridge-loaded Devices there, too. Though bombardment mages have always used them more, because we need as much speed and power as possible."

"Oh, and my little sister decided that you're really cool after you met her," Tiida told Quint, his face dead serious. "I want you to know what you've done. She's been putting low-friction barriers on the floor and skating around in her socks. This is entirely your fault." His mouth twitched.

Quint bit her lip. "However will I be able to apologise?" she asked, trying not to laugh.

"I feel there can be no forgiveness for such a sin," Tiida told her. "At least until she gets bored with it, which may take as long as... uh, maybe a month at most."

"Hey! I'm not boring!" Quint managed, cracking up. She wiped her eyes on a napkin, smiling, and caught the eyes of the last member of the table. He wasn't smiling. "What's the matter?" she asked.

"I'm... regretting coming for this," Yuuno said, in a small voice. "Not just eating here with you – though you're all older and talking about things that... well, not just here. But here. Back to Earth. It was fine when travelling but... I didn't think you'd want me to go back there."

"Oh," Quint said, shuffling along the bench so she was facing the boy. "Yes, that... like, I know why she – Lindy – couldn't tell you for OpSec, but she should have said something. You can probably still bow out or something."

"I could," Yuuno said, hands on his lap. He avoided her eyes. "But... if there's a Harvester out there, if it's coming for Earth..." he trailed off. "Nanoha would have helped no matter what," he managed eventually.

There was an awkward silence, broken only by the sound of cutlery on plates.

"If... if she'd been here, if she'd turned back, she could have been here," Yuuno said. "And she'd be here, and she'd know how to fit in on UA97, and I wouldn't be having to help you when most of my time there was as a ferret."

"You d-don't have to help us," Rizu said firmly.

"I do. She... she would have wanted it. And, well, I guess I was just sort of... drifting," Yuuno said, with a helpless shrug. "I haven't been able to focus, or... I got credit for that ship you recovered, and I can't even bring myself to look at it because it's got her face on it. Sometimes it feels like I see her wherever I go. I... I just don't know what I want to do with my life now."

Rizu patted his hand. "W-well," she suggested. "You are... um. Nine years old. It's sort of allowed."

"Ten, now," he said, without a trace of rancour.

"Well, when I was ten, I was still j-just running around, playing," the older girl said. She tilted her head. "Uh, f-fine, I was running around, trying to keep Mei out of trouble but still."

Mei patted her on the hand. "And you did a really good job of it," she said seriously. "Really, I don't thank you enough. Like, you know, when they diagnosed me, they were totally amazed at how clean my record was, relatively speaking. Most of the people with stuff wrong like this end up in jail or worse – if Dad'd been diagnosed, maybe he'd have survived." She sighed, stretched, and rose to get seconds, but paused a few steps away. "Look," she told Yuuno over her shoulder, "you're being really brave, even if you're scared of stuff. Not knowing what fear is isn't bravery; that's just being an idiot."

"Like you," Heidi muttered.

"Right! Like me!" Mei said, nodding. "I'm an _expert _at doing stupid things which aren't actually that brave! I have life-long experience at it! Trust me when I said that it's really easy to do things other people say are brave when your brain isn't feeling scared. But you're going to be helping us even though you're feeling all bad about her – and I'm feeling kinda bad about her, too, because she did save all our lives from a giant horrible robot monster thing! Well, you know, if we can find this ship of people or catch whoever did it to them, this'll make a big difference, right? And that's all that matters."

Yuuno looked up, a watery smile on his face. "I'll need to think about that," he said, "but thank you. I think... yes. Thank you."

* * *

...

* * *

Forty miles from the nearest settlement and in the middle of the deep winter season, the stretch of land off the coast of an inland sea on Unadministered World #105 saw little life or movement. A light snowstorm was adding to the white blankets that covered everything in sight, and any animals that made it their home were deep in hibernation underground, safely away from cold bitter enough to kill within minutes. The water was frozen over in these dark, cold months, and the snow lay heavy enough on it that it was impossible to tell where the land ended and the sea began. Bleak, barren and inhospitable even during the summer months, it had seen no human life in years.

But it saw some now. With a flash of pink light that briefly lit the swirling snowflakes, a young girl occurred, grey-clad and with a small grey shape huddled in the hood of her Barrier Jacket. A hood which was somewhat superfluous, given the helmet she wore, but which was there nonetheless. The curled-up form occupying it shivered immediately and stuck out a small pink tongue.

_'Eurgh. _Snow_. Can't we set our super-special trouble trap somewhere else? Like somewhere warm, or sunny, or with rabbits?'_

Nanoha shook her head. _'Too late for that now.' _She shot a glare back over her shoulder. _'And don't think you're off the hook about that, either. A welcome-back present was a nice thought to have, but a dead rabbit is not the right kind of thing to give people. Even Linith.'_

She turned back to surveying the area, ignoring the quiet grumbling from behind her neck suggesting that she didn't understand feline customs and was being cruel and oppressive in stifling their native rituals.

Only a moment later, a softer yellow flash announced another arrival a few hundred metres away, and Fate flew up to join them. Arf was just visible peeking over her shoulder from her backpack seat, and her Barrier Jacket was back to the grey-white it had been in Schzenais, to better blend in with the elements. Like Nanoha, she was helmeted – they weren't risking the loss of processing power that disguising their magic would take, but hiding their faces was a step that both Linith and Precia had insisted on.

"It worked," she greeted softly. "Did you pump extra juice into the teleport or something? I felt it from a world away."

"... ah heh. Yes? Yes, I was... deliberately a bit sloppy," agreed Nanoha hastily, blushing faintly. "And that'll make them think I'm not very good, right? And easy prey."

Fate made an unconvinced sound, but nodded anyway. "Me, too," she reminded. "Assuming they know we're supposed to be meeting here. What exactly did you tell Arisa, anyway? You left it late."

"Precia said to. So that they wouldn't have long to think about it, if they picked it up. So I asked how she was doing and stuff, and then told her I was meeting my friend who was coming in to help, and that I had to wrap up warm and go."

"Hmm." Behind the mirrored plate that covered her face, Fate pursed her lips. "Well, let's hope they buy it. If they're looking for it, or just around this planet, they'll have sensed you coming in." She glanced around at the driving snow coming down all around them. "Visibility isn't good, but we should probably get some distance from where we came in, just in case. Up or down?"

Arf nudged her in the back. _'Up,'_ she offered. _'You'll blend in better against the clouds with the falling snow below you. And mask your heat signatures or you'll stand out like a Nanoha.'_

"Hey!"

Arf grinned and corrected herself. _'Okay, sorry. You'll stand out like a Nanoha when she's reading a maths textbook in history class.'_

One among their number pouting at the unfairness of her friends and the way that Fate tattled on her, the quartet ascended higher. Visors slid across their eyes, and heat readouts superimposed themselves over everything in sight. The general trend was one of large amounts of blue.

And on the horizon, a line of grey, fast approaching. She felt Fate tense beside her.

_'Here we go...' _Arf murmured.

From the distance in front of them, a reddish-grey wall approached, engulfing the landscape. It washed over the quartet, tinting the sky a deep violet and dulling the colours around them to monochrome – though in light of the heavy layer of cloud above and the colours around them being mostly white, this wasn't especially noticeable.

What was noticeable, however, was the way the snow shuddered and froze in the air as their imprints were shifted into the barrier-space. Suspended motionless halfway between ground and sky, the flakes looked like a million flecks of chaff littering the battlefield-to-be. Wonderingly, Nanoha reached out to brush one nearby. It was cold, but not as cold as she expected of a snowflake. More like a sort of artificial chill, a holdover from its properties back on the other side of the barrier, now lost as it dissolved under her touch.

_'Nanoha! Incoming!'_

Her attention snapped back to the business at hand, and the streaks of heat coming in from their left. There were four of them, all small and moving at high speed, and she brought Raising Heart up hastily to counter them before they got too close.

[Divine Shooter]

Four streaks of pink light shot forth, carving thin paths through the frozen snow as they each curved out to meet the reddish projectiles head on. Four explosions resounded a second later, as they detonated on contact. The echoes reflected strangely off the barren landscape below, distorted by the snow and ice powder filling the air.

"Where..." began Nanoha, glancing around warily. But she was interrupted by Raising Heart and Bardiche both. The two Intelligent Devices blared a warning, and Nanoha's attention followed it upwards to the scarlet missile falling on them from out of the heavy clouds above.

In perfect synchronicity, Nanoha and Fate split apart, darting in opposite directions. Nanoha rippled and vanished as she did so, while Fate departed in a yellow blur of speed. Inwardly, though, Nanoha was smiling grimly. Red clothing and... yes, that dratted hammer. It was the same knight she had fought at Arisa's house. She'd been both hoping and dreading it would be, and not just because of the injury's she'd taken last time. On the one hand, her last attempt at fighting this knight had gone poorly indeed. But on the other, knowing their opponent's skillset through first-hand experience gave them a distinct advantage.

_'It's her,' _she confirmed shortly. _'Lucky us. Remember the plan.'_

_'I remember.' _Fate's voice, steely with confidence, soothed Nanoha's trepidations. _'Whenever you're ready.'_

The knight had altered her course in response to them splitting up, heading after Fate in the absence of a Nanoha to track. Taking aim at her back, Nanoha let loose a flurry of shooting spells as flew sideways, zigzagging her course to stay undetected.

The half-dozen pink bolts cut towards the Breaker, homing in on her from both sides to box her in. They struck sparks from the triangular shield she conjured to guard her back as Fate darted in from her other side, flanked by another half-dozen golden blades.

Bardiche shifted just as Fate swung, switching from its axe formation to the blazing golden scythe. The change was sudden and unexpected, and one that Fate had used in the past to take Nanoha off-guard with stunning success. But against the knight, it got her nothing but a faint widening of the eyes. The girl's grip on her hammer shifted even as she brought it up to block, and the shafts of the two polearms clashed together. The angle of the parry sent Bardiche off to the side and forced Fate to hastily duck the hammerhead as it swung towards her face. Her shooting spells hit home, half a dozen in quick succession, but had little effect besides drawing a grimace from their target.

Even that small victory was lost when she swung the mallet out again, and the head shifted form into the same intimidating rocket that had broken Raising Heart. It loaded no cartridge, but spoke in an angry, harsh-sounding tone.

[Panzergeist! Pferde!]

Just as before, whirlwinds of light encircled her feet and a red aura sprung to life around her, strongest and darkest over her left hip where the dark tome Nanoha had seen her use at Arisa's house rested in a holster. Nanoha bit her lip. _'Fate,' _she sent quickly. _'That's the defence spell she used on me. And I think the speed one. Be careful.'_

Fate didn't answer with words, only a brief feeling of affirmation. It was all she had time for, as the rocket on the hammer ignited with a roar and the knight exploded towards her, leaving a trail of grey-white smoke behind her. The snow sizzled and hissed into steam around the pair as they whirled and flung themselves through the sky like dogfighters. Fate kept up a steady stream of Photon Lancers as she ducked and dodged, but barely one in ten connected. The knight snuffed them out with crisp, efficient blows, batting them aside with hammer and fist alike and responding with glowing metal bullets that screamed through the air and left a trail of detonations along Fate's flight path.

Nanoha's efforts were scarcely more effective. Pink bullets cut trails of mist through the frozen snow as Nanoha moved ghost-like around the fight. But the range she was shooting from meant that her shots took precious seconds to reach their target – seconds the Breaker used to roll out of their path, not even bothering to turn around or acknowledge them. The few that did get through broke harmlessly against the scarlet aura wreathing her. Fate had more success when she risked melee to deliver punishing scythe slashes to the arms or torso, but the hammer was there every time, viciously swiping at Bardiche's core or the centre of her barrier jacket. Binds in both orange and pink hampered the Breaker's movements. But it still wasn't enough.

Left without Fate's speed or the rocket-powered boost of the hammer, Nanoha would have been left behind quickly had Fate not limited her movements to keep the battle within her range. But it was a limitation that worked against her. Red and yellow swerved closer and closer together as Fate tried to keep the fight from straying too far, and Nanoha bit her lip as flashes of orange began to appear, turning aside grazing blows that came closer and closer to landing.

Worse yet, despite Fate's greater speed, the knight seemed uncannily able to predict where she would attack or dodge to. Fate was faster, but sheer experience was tilting the fight in the knight's favour. Nanoha threw her weight behind Arf's in a bind that held the hammer still for a full second, saving Fate from a blow to the shoulder and allowing her to get in a slash to the sternum. Judging her friend safe for the moment as she disengaged, Nanoha thought furiously.

Melee was too dangerous. Despite Fate's speed, the knight was simply too good – feints and surprise meant nothing to her. Shooting spells were nearly useless against the combination of hammer and defensive field, and at the range Nanoha was firing from, she was able to dodge most of them.

So she needed something bigger. Something faster. Something with more of a kick.

_'Fate,' _she sent. _'I have an idea. Can you lead her into position?' _Raising Heart chimed as it sent coordinates, and a casting circle spun into being beneath Nanoha's feet. She lowered herself onto it as she gathered power, aiming carefully at a patch of sky close to the two darting forms. The casting rings extended out from Raising Heart's tip, forming a barrel longer than Nanoha was tall, and she sighted along it carefully.

_'Ready?' _Fate's mental voice was terse and tense, the touch of her mind felt like metal wire, pulled taut with stress and effort.

_'Ready,' _Nanoha confirmed, and Fate broke off from the dogfight and sped right, through the projected path of the beam and out again to safety, with the Breaker hot on her tail. Adrenaline rippled up Nanoha's spine as she waited until the Breaker was a few short metres from the line of fire.

And fired.

[Divine Buster]

The shooting spells had taken seconds to reach the knight. But bombardment spells travelled much, much faster. The beam lanced out faster than the eye could follow, and a juggernaut of light smashed into the Cloud Knight with all the force and fury of a train collision. The beam split as it met its target, pink streamers coming off in all directions like a water stream parting as it met a boulder. Huge clouds of steam boiled off the sides of the bombardment as it vaporised the snow, wreathing caster, target and the line between them in a scalding fog lit brilliantly from within.

When it petered out, the red defensive aura was gone. The knight, however, was not. And she looked very, very unhappy.

"Eep!" Nanoha squeaked, as the rocket lit up again and the knight shot towards her.

_'Don't worry mistress! We're still cloaked!' _Vesta reminded her. _'And I'm here to protect you this time!' _She paused for a beat before adding, _'but you should still get out of the way so I don't have to!'_

Nanoha nodded and cast a Flash Move, blurring away from the steam cloud that marked her previous position. She kicked up, gaining altitude to put more distance between her and her attacker, and looked down to see where the knight was.

_'Mistress!'_

Something kicked her hard in the upper back, and a bone-shaking roar split the air. She rippled into visibility as she tumbled forward and turned, feeling the lightness in her hood. A frighteningly short distance away, Vesta was in her war form, locked in combat with the very knight she'd been looking for. The girl must have been bare metres behind her when Vesta had kicked off to intercept her, if that! How had she found them? They were hidden, invisible, not just by Vesta's cloak but by the...

... the snow. The frozen snow, which they left channels in whenever they moved. Of course she'd been able to find them, they were announcing their presence with a giant arrow of clear air pointing to where they were! She lifted Raising Heart, the equations of a Divine Shooter flurry slamming into place.

But Vesta was attacking furiously enough that Nanoha couldn't get a clear shot at her opponent. Bloody, bladed light extended from her claws as she swiped and bit at the knight, ducking the hammer with feline grace and lunging for the throat, ten-centimetre fangs bared. Once, twice, three times and more the spiked point of the hammer tore through her head, torso or limbs, only to meet no resistance besides a dissolving illusion. Claws and fangs tore long rents in the gothic red dress, and slashed long, shallow gashes in the skin below as the knight sacrificed defence on her right side to protect her left, and the book holster that hung there. She tightened her defence and lengthened her swings, but still caught only glancing impacts with the shaft on a quick, agile opponent whose image was never where her body was.

And, finally, lost patience. "Rrrgh... _enough!_" she shouted. A fist-sized ball of pulsing red-white light grew in her hand, and grew to the size of her head as she tossed it in the air and brought her hammer around to...

The explosion of light, sound and force tore Vesta's illusion apart and flung her backwards into Nanoha hard enough to knock both of them out of the sky. Despite her surge protectors, despite the protection of her Barrier Jacket, her ears rung and her eyes stung as she blinked frantically, unable to see or hear anything more than a blur. She could feel Vesta writhing and yowling in pain as they fell, and the dazed fog filling her head clogged her attempts at a flight spell. Squeezing her aching eyes shut, she braced for impact and hoped for the best.

* * *

...

* * *

Fate watched helplessly as Nanoha fell, blinking the spots out of her own eyes and nursing the multitude of livid bruises that stood out all over her arms and legs. The white-grey tangle of shapes, too far away to reach in time, vanished into a snowdrift which hopefully broke their fall. Pinging Nanoha telepathically got a response, albeit one that was mostly pained groaning, so Fate marked her down as 'safe for now' and turned her attention back to the knight.

Who was glaring at her. And Fate could guess why. Her and Nanoha's shots were little more than bruises, their binds were ineffective, but the simple fact of the matter was that there were four of them and only one knight. The scorch marks from Bardiche's scythe-blade and the rents from Vesta's claws stood out starkly on her red dress, and she was panting from the exertion of the flashbang spell.

They were winning.

It was slow, painful and gruelling, but they were winning. Nanoha was down, but she would be back up again in a few moments. Between Fate's speed and Nanoha's cloaking, she couldn't reliably land a blow on either, and the combination of speed and long-range bombardment was enough that she couldn't escape, either. Cartridges would give her more power, but if she couldn't land a hit they would be useless. Unless she had something special in reserve, she was effectively done for. It might take them hours, but they _could _win this.

And she knew it.

Vivid blue eyes narrowed hatefully in Fate's direction, and the knight scowled. She looked down, and for a moment she seemed to be struggling with something. One hand dropped to the Book at her hip, but hesitated, and then slowly returned to the hammer. Fate waited, tense and wary for any reignition of hostilities. She was perfectly happy to wait until Nanoha got back up, since taking the knight on singlehandedly wasn't an attractive-sounding prospect, but she wasn't about to let the Breaker try anything. This was one of the Wolkenritter, after all. The chances were good that she _did _have something in reserve, somewhere. Fate would just have to stop her from using it.

Finally, her enemy looked up at her. Resolve was writ large across her face, and there was a certain look of grim satisfaction in her eyes that Fate was less than comfortable with.

"You forced this," she said, conversationally. The hammer shifted forms again. The spike retracted, the rocket withdrew. And as it restructured, it got bigger. Considerably bigger. The sleek, slender cylinders of its base form were replaced with two heavy octagonal blocks, each bigger than the girls' head. It seemed to radiate blunt force and trauma. "So you have only yourselves to blame."

She twirled the massive weapon effortlessly. It should probably, Fate guessed, have weighed almost half a tonne. In the knight's hands, it moved like a child's toy.

A casting triangle appeared in front of her, flat edge parallel to the ground, a surface pointing straight down. It spun for a moment before stabilising, one point directed towards her, the flat edge oriented away. Fate readied half a dozen Photon Lancers, taking the time to layer a detonation effect and bind into their sub-structure. Still, she couldn't help but give the knight a confused look. What kind of spell was this?

And then she caught the flicker above her head, and looked up. At the scarlet casting sigil the size of a city block which had spread across the sky above them. Her eyes widened in fear as the sound of a cartridge loading pulled her gaze back down, and she fired off the Photon Lancers. Hoping they would distract the knight long enough for her to disrupt the control sigil, she flung herself forwards...

[Sagitta Luminis]

A smoky-grey arrow smashed into the knight's hip, and it was only through a miracle of reaction that she managed to catch the book as it was dislodged. The sigil above them dissolved along with its control node, and Fate pulled up short in confusion. That... hadn't been Nanoha, who was just floating up to join her. It had come from...

The figure it had come from burst into view from within the static snowstorm, arrowing towards the knight single-mindedly. Fate caught only a glimpse – an adult, masked and wearing an anonymous grey Jacket like Nanoha's. The knight brought her hammer around in a vicious swing that nearly took the figure's head off, but it was undeterred. It pursued her as she rose away, her hammer shifting back into its smaller form as she struggled to fend it off one-handed. It didn't attack, nor did it try to defend itself apart from dodging. Every effort, every motion it made was oriented towards one goal: the book.

Nanoha and Fate traded glances, honestly unsure of what to do. To help the knight would be madness, given their goal, but the masked figure's silent, single-minded assault for the book was hardly any more encouraging. Fate shook her head in response to Nanoha's questioning look.

_'They're ignoring us,' _she decided. _'Bombardment spells on three. Aim for where they're drifting.'_

Nanoha nodded resolutely, and they rose together, gaining height until they were above the close-quarters brawl. The masked figure was moving with unnatural flexibility and feline grace, Fate noted – more than most mages could hope to achieve, even with an inertial Barrier Jacket helping. She winced as it bent backwards almost ninety degrees to dodge a cartridge-boosted swing, and began charging her Thunder Smasher.

But even as she watched, the knight _spun_, bringing the hammer round in an arc, never ceasing its motion. It came back around with a whirring sound – far faster, far stronger – and the masked figure was still off-balance and bent awkwardly from the previous stroke. It tried its best, but the hammer grazed its arm nonetheless.

The _crack _of breaking bone was audible even from a hundred metres away. Nanoha winced in sympathy.

That seemed to drain the fight out of the figure, and it turned on its heel and fled. The knight pursued it for a short distance, but broke off, apparently deciding that it wasn't worth it. She stowed the book back on her hip and looked around, frowning, trying to find the girls.

Her expression when she saw the bombardment spells pointed at her was one that Fate would remember for a long time, with no small amount of satisfaction.

[Divine Buster]  
[Thunder Smasher]

Pink and gold destruction hammered down on the injured knight.

And stopped cold, scattered into component motes.

"Wh... what?" Nanoha gaped. Fate stared. _Another _ masked figure had appeared, teleporting right into the path of the beam in the instant before they fired. This one was dressed very similarly to the first one; perhaps it was dressed in a lighter shade, but in the gloom of the barrier and the snow she wasn't sure. Certainly, it gave no more clues to its identity as the previous one had. She tried to zoom in with Raising Heart and get a closer view of it, but a heat-haze wavered around it, and lines of static filled her scope.

[Hostile EMCM detected,] Raising Heart reported. [Attempting EMCCM.]

The figure, as far as she could determine intent from behind the mask, was staring at her. A whirling dark blue shield hung in the air before it, dimmed from the strain of holding off two bombardment spells. It half-turned to the knight behind it, without taking its eyes off them or moving from its guarding stance.

She glared at it distrustfully. But red light built around her in a teleport spell, as the masked figure covered her. Nanoha lifted Raising Heart, but Fate stopped her.

"It stopped two bombardment spells almost point blank," she murmured. "We're not getting past it before the Breaker's gone. There's no point in trying."

Nanoha grimaced, but relented, settling into a ready stance as the red-clad knight disappeared.

"Now," Fate continued, "what will this one do?" She tensed, her hands tightening around Bardiche.

But the masked figure didn't attack. With a short, mocking bow towards the two, it sketched a blue veil around itself. As the barrier around them collapsed, and shunted them back into the real world, it faded to leave nothing but the falling snow.

_'What the heck was that about?' _asked Arf, bewildered. _'Who were those two? What did they want?' _Fate could only shake her head in mystification and trepedition.

"I don't know," she admitted. "But I think Mother needs to hear about this."

* * *

...


	6. Notification

This is a notification, and will be taken down in a week or so to make room for the real chapter, which is due as normal at the end of the month.

I uploaded a chapter of Game Theory by mistake while tweaking a few errors, then went to bed and didn't find out I'd done it until morning.

I dun goofed on that. First time I've made a mistake with the posting system, but I guess it had to happen eventually. I'd rather it hadn't happened quite as _spectacularly_ as that, but oh well.

(I am aware that this is probably going to be hanging over my head and being used as teasing fodder for a long, long time.)

Anyway, chapter's fixed now. Go read at your leisure.


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